Vi was born in 1917 to Almon and Rhoda {Kipling} Wheaton she had two older siblings and three younger siblings and one half sibling from her father's first marriage. Vi attended school in a one room school house until age 16 when the family farm burned down for the second time due to a vagrant starting a fire overnight in their barn. She and her older siblings went to work to support the family in the midst of the Great Depression of the 1930's she worked as a nanny. Vi married Pat O'Leary in 1936 because he was a great dancer and drank Grape Kehi soda, their union produced two children Patrick Dennis and Sharon. Dennis was hit by a motorcycle during a side show after sneaking off his grandma Rhoda's farm with his cousin Sam, at age 7 he came very near death and Vi spent a year nursing her son back to health. Vi doted on her children and would on occasion take a brief part time job while the kids were in school much to the dismay of her husband, she would save up for something extra that her children wanted or to buy new furniture for the family room and give the 'old' to one of her siblings. They owned an always neat and tidy two bedroom, cottage or cape cod style house only a few houses from the local elementary school and playground and due to her fear of fire never finished the upstairs while the children were at home. Vi and Pat had an elaborate raised garden with redwood timbers and flowers in their backyard, they both loved dogs. Sharon later turned the basement of their home into a Beauty shop and Vi was affectionally nick-named 'Sarge' by the female clients of the 1960's and 70's. Vi was a tall woman 5'8 with thick straight jet black hair and blue/green eyes, when she was a young lady she always wanted to gain weight to add curves to her body. She contracted Polio as a child and it lead to a curvature and breakdown of her spine and by the time she died she was only 5'2. Viola hated her name and made her family promise to never name a child after her with a hand on the bible. She died while taking a nap at 78 years old of heart failure after returning from a cat scan to check for heart trouble.
Vi was born in 1917 to Almon and Rhoda {Kipling} Wheaton she had two older siblings and three younger siblings and one half sibling from her father's first marriage. Vi attended school in a one room school house until age 16 when the family farm burned down for the second time due to a vagrant starting a fire overnight in their barn. She and her older siblings went to work to support the family in the midst of the Great Depression of the 1930's she worked as a nanny. Vi married Pat O'Leary in 1936 because he was a great dancer and drank Grape Kehi soda, their union produced two children Patrick Dennis and Sharon. Dennis was hit by a motorcycle during a side show after sneaking off his grandma Rhoda's farm with his cousin Sam, at age 7 he came very near death and Vi spent a year nursing her son back to health. Vi doted on her children and would on occasion take a brief part time job while the kids were in school much to the dismay of her husband, she would save up for something extra that her children wanted or to buy new furniture for the family room and give the 'old' to one of her siblings. They owned an always neat and tidy two bedroom, cottage or cape cod style house only a few houses from the local elementary school and playground and due to her fear of fire never finished the upstairs while the children were at home. Vi and Pat had an elaborate raised garden with redwood timbers and flowers in their backyard, they both loved dogs. Sharon later turned the basement of their home into a Beauty shop and Vi was affectionally nick-named 'Sarge' by the female clients of the 1960's and 70's. Vi was a tall woman 5'8 with thick straight jet black hair and blue/green eyes, when she was a young lady she always wanted to gain weight to add curves to her body. She contracted Polio as a child and it lead to a curvature and breakdown of her spine and by the time she died she was only 5'2. Viola hated her name and made her family promise to never name a child after her with a hand on the bible. She died while taking a nap at 78 years old of heart failure after returning from a cat scan to check for heart trouble.
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