Verona Wheeler, wife of Joseph Coolidge Wheeler, completed her extraordinary life on April 23, 2015 at the age of 91, surrounded by family in her Concord home. She was born February 8, 1924 in Storden, Minnesota, the first-born child to Orin Farness and Alma Ostby Farness, and named Marie Verona. A smart and sometimes mischievous child, she brought home small animals in need of care, helped her father in the grain elevator office, and climbed to the top of the town water tower. In high school she was a pole-vaulter and basketball player. She studied nursing at the Toronto Medical Missionary Institute, and in 1947 set sail for India with her first husband William Irving Kane, a missionary. Landing in Mumbai in the midst of the turmoil and violence of India's partition, Verona and her husband traveled on what would be one of the last trains to the new country of Pakistan, and settled in Peshawar in the Northwest Frontier Province. Verona lived in Pakistan for the next 30 years. She became mother to daughters Marilee and Margy, and friend to the royalty of mountain kingdoms and to mountaineers. She was a hiker of high mountain passes, an Urdu speaker, a skillful manager of US diplomatic staff houses, the one-stop service manager for USAID (American aid) families in Islamabad and an elegant hostess. In 1970, Verona married Joe Wheeler, who was serving as the director of the USAID mission in Pakistan. Their combined families included six children, all in their teens or early twenties. Many memorable family trips followed, including an 18-day drive from Munich to Islamabad in a van with seven unruly teenagers. After leaving Pakistan in 1977, Verona and Joe went on to live in Washington D.C., Nairobi, Paris and Geneva before settling into retirement in Joe's home town of Concord, MA. They vacationed in places like Somalia, Seychelles, Mongolia, and Ladakh, and entertained their extended family in their homes around the world. They maintained friendships in Pakistan throughout and visited Pakistan within the past 10 years. Verona was a top-notch cook and arbiter of taste. She appreciated the beauty of the natural world around her everywhere, with a special love for the high Himalayas. She is beloved by her children, stepchildren, and grandchildren for her sassy wit, her style and generosity, her fearlessness, and her love of nature and poetry. She was adored by her cat Sasha. Verona previously lost her eldest daughter Marilee Kane, her brother Joseph Earl Farness and her sister Margaret Farness Bushee. She is survived by her husband Joseph C. Wheeler and their five children Margaret Jeanne Kane, Juliet Wheeler, Rachel Wheeler, Deborah Wheeler Burk, Caleb Henry Wheeler and by six grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at a later date. To share a remembrance in Verona's guest book, please visit www.deefuneralhome.com .