Susan A. Wheelan of Provincetown died peacefully at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Plymouth after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 72.
Susan was born in Providence, R.I., the daughter of Daniel and Janice Wheelan. She was a graduate of Bay View Academy, Stonehill College, and the University of Wisconsin Madison with a Ph.D in psychology.
She was professor of psychological studies and faculty director of the Center for the Study of Psychoeducational Processes at Temple University in Philadelphia for 28 years. In 1992 she received the university’s Great Teacher Award. In 1994 she organized the first International Kurt Lewin Conference at Temple.
In her early career she worked as a clinical psychologist but soon turned her focus to the study of groups. She is author of Facilitating Training Groups, Group Processes: A Developmental Perspective, Creating Effective Teams: A Guide for Members and Leaders, and Faculty Groups: From Frustration to Collaboration. She also edited the Handbook of Group Research and Practice and was co-editor of The Lewin Legacy: Field Theory in Current Practice and Advances in Field Theory.
In 2015 Susan received Sage Publishing’s Cornerstone Author Award to celebrate her work as a mainstay in the discipline of group research and the lasting impact of her work.
She was an invited speaker at Oxford and other universities around the world. “Every university in Sweden bases their study of groups on her research,” said Jane Winter, Susan’s wife.
She worked for many years as a consultant in her role as president of GDQ Associates. Her engagements included research with hospitals, school systems, prisons, corporations, and nonprofit organizations, including the Provincetown AIDS Support Group.
“In the ’90s, when Alice Foley was running the support group, the clients were living, not dying, and trying to figure out how to live with this disease,” said Winter. “Susan had her graduate students come and help them come up with a way for the organization to change so it could come into the future and deal with the needs of the living instead of the dying.”
Susan spent many summers as a child on the beaches of Scarborough, R.I. with her large family and was drawn to Provincetown for that same love of the ocean. A gregarious person and a great storyteller, she taught her classes with insight and laughter. She prized the seriousness and the silliness of life.
She played at the Provincetown Tennis Club, went fishing in Cape Cod Bay, and loved the sunsets at Herring Cove. She loved music, sang in choirs and bars, and was a dancer with her own humorous, soulful style. She had a passion for social justice and worked politically her whole life to change the world for the better.
“Creating healthy and effective groups capable of responding to new challenges is perhaps the most important task facing the human community of today,” she wrote. “Living in peace — in fact, living at all — depends on our ability to live and work together effectively.”
Susan leaves her wife of 32 years, Jane Winter; her daughter, Renaya Furtick Wheelan; her daughter-in-law, Petrena Young Wheelan; her grandchildren, Jeremiah, Noah, and Genesis; her siblings, Daniel Wheelan, Mary Pat Wheelan, Christopher Wheelan, and George Wheelan; a sister-in-law, Strong Oak LeFebre; and nephews, nieces, many beloved cousins, and her amazing acquired family of friends.
A celebration of Susan’s life is planned for next summer in Provincetown. Donations can be made in her name to the Alzheimer’s Family Support Center of Cape Cod at alzheimerscapecod.com.
Memories and expressions of condolence may be left in the guest book at www.gatelyfuneralservice.com.
Hannelore Le Gendre, 94, Holocaust Survivor
A garment worker, broker, and patron of the arts
Hannelore Le Gendre, who died on Oct. 21, 2019 at age 94, was born in Stuttgart, Germany at a time when she and her parents lived a full and active life enjoying family outings in the Black Forest, skiing, camping, hiking, and traveling in Europe.
Her passion for literature and classical music stemmed from her father’s family business, book publishing, and from the composers and conductors on her mother’s side.
The peaceful life of her youth was thrust into turmoil during the rise of the Nazis in Germany, when she was separated from her parents. If not for the arrangements made by her parents to hide and protect her on a farm she may not have survived the horror of what followed in Europe.
After the war Hannelore was reunited with her mother who had amazingly survived the concentration camps. They never knew what became of her father. It is important to note that her survival had much to do with the stability she enjoyed before the war and that cemented in her an inner strength that helped her persevere through many challenges in her life.
No matter how devastating her experiences, she never allowed her life to be forestalled by anger, fear, or resentment. In fact, she recalled the war years with a sense of dignity and thankfulness. So it was not surprising that she reacted to her recent diagnosis of breast cancer by saying, “If I could survive the Holocaust, I can survive this, too.” And also, “Look, I’m 94 years old. I’m not going to be around forever.”
Hannelore’s love for the arts grew as she made a life in New York. She and her husband, Henri, who died in 2001, were avid patrons of the arts, spanning 60 years from the New York art scene of the 1950s and 1960s to Provincetown, where they spent over 50 summers with their family.
Hannelore worked in the garment industry, as a real estate broker, and in the New York City education system. She enjoyed the theater, opera, music, and dancing. She was a loyal “Jeopardy” viewer and played Scrabble with family and friends.
Hannelore is survived by her children, Serge, Darren and his wife, Shawn, Monique and her wife, Evelina, and Dina and her husband, Ben-Zion. Besides her husband, she was predeceased by her eldest daughter, Barbara. She is also survived by nine grandchildren.
Her final days were spent in Provincetown, where she had raised her family over the span of 50 years. She called Provincetown her “happy place.” Hannelore will be buried by her husband’s side in New York.
Expressions of condolence for the family may be left in the guest book at www.gatelyfuneralservice.com.
Karen Lynn Ribble, 55, Brought Spark to Gatherings
Provincetown native Karen Lynn (Greeley) Ribble, died unexpectedly at MercyOne Des Moines (Iowa) Medical Center on Oct. 16, 2019. She was 55.
Karen was born in Hyannis on May 23, 1964 to Lawrence and Marianna (Andrews) Greeley. She grew up in the Cape Cod area and had lived in Des Moines for the last 28 years. She worked hard for many years as a skilled waitress, as a Transportation Security Administration agent, and more recently at ABM Industries.
Karen loved growing up near the ocean. She called her hometown of Provincetown “God’s country” and fondly remembered the water, ocean breezes, and bonfires with friends on the beach. It was the life she had built around her family in Iowa that held her in the Midwest. She loved watching her sons grow and attending their ball games.
Karen was generous and liked meeting people. Her friends will remember the spark she brought to any gathering. She especially enjoyed the companionship of her two dogs, Trixie and Gizmo.
Those left to cherish Karen’s memory include her mother, Marianna Greeley; two sons, Daniel Formaro Jr. and Justin Formaro; a stepson, Kieffer Simmons and his son, Carter Simmons; her sister, Kathy, and her son, Troy; and many extended family members and good friends both in Des Moines and on Cape Cod. She was preceded in death by her father, Lawrence Greeley, and her grandmother, Mary M. Jason.
A memorial service was held Friday in Iowa.
Calling hours with a prayer service will be from 1 to 3 p.m. at Gately Funeral Home, 94 Harry Kemp Way, Provincetown on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Burial will follow at St Peter’s Cemetery.
Memorial contributions in Karen’s name may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.
Expressions of condolence for the family may be left in the guest book at www.gatelyfuneralservice.com.
