Marianna Amende Wheeler

Marianna Amende Wheeler, 91, died on December 10, 2014 in Greenville, S.C. Born on November 14, 1923 in Grimma, Germany, she was the daughter of the late Marie and Otto Amende. She was married to Joe Wheeler from 1945 until his death in 2009. She outlived her two sisters Charlotte and Susie, and a brother Kurt. She leaves two sons and their wives, David, Gary, Stacey and Becky and has five grandchildren, Zach, Hannah, Phillip, Abbie and Emily; in addition to nieces and nephews. Marianna grew up on Long Island, New York and worked as an artist at the New Yorker magazine. She then volunteered with the American Red Cross and served in Japan during the occupation where she met her husband at a military social function. They were married in Tennessee upon their return to the US. She and Mr. Wheeler started a water treatment company, Industrial Water Chemicals, in Chattanooga Tenn., later a subsidiary of Sara Lee Corporation. She had brief stints as a model, became an accomplished portrait artist, and served as a Gray Lady at Memorial Hospital for over two decades. Marianna was an avid bridge and tennis player, an active supporter of the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra and the Hunter Museum, and a member of the White Oak and Centenary Methodist Churches in Chattanooga and St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Little Rock, Ark. In 2004, she and Joe moved to Little Rock, Ark. and in 2009 she moved to Greenville, S.C. where she was a resident at the Cascades Verdae, where she received without exception, compassionate and loving care from her arrival to recent decline. A memorial service is planned in a few weeks and information can be found at http://www.thomasmcafee.com/_mgxroot/page_10792.php or by contacting wheelergary@uams.edu or rdwheelersc@gmail.com. Memorials in lieu of flowers may be directed to the American Red Cross or University of Tennessee. Thomas McAfee Funeral Home, Downtown.