On April 25, 2009, Joan “Joani” Wheaton Hadley, formerly of Claremont and most recently of Whittier, died at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center following a series of strokes.  She was 71.

Born Joan Carol Wheaton on December 2, 1937 in Norwalk, Ohio, she was the only child of Robert Leslie Wheaton and Mary Elizabeth Wheaton.  At age 12, she moved to Riverside with her family. Later, they relocated to Whittier where she graduated from Whittier High School in 1955.  She attended Fullerton Junior College for a short time.

Ms. Hadley’s first employment was in the gift-wrapping department of Henshaws in Whittier where she learned the art of creative gift presentation, a skill she was noted for throughout her life.  

“Any package she ever sent to anybody or gave as a gift was decorated beautifully,” said her daughter-in-law, Suzanne Hadley. “Everything was always wrapped perfectly with matching bows—you had a professionally wrapped package from her every time.”

After a brief period at Henshaws, she became the secretary/receptionist for Potvin Automotive Equipment in Anaheim where she met her future husband, Dawson Neil Hadley.  The couple was married on October 20, 1956 at St. Gregory Catholic Church in Whittier and made their home in Claremont the same year. 

During the grammar school years of their 5 children, Ms. Hadley was involved with PTA, chaired several fundraisers and served as a Brownie leader.  Although busy with family and helping her husband with his business, she found time to serve on the Claremont-Guanajuato and Mexico Sister City Committees, welcomed 2 exchange students from Africa as they attended college in Claremont and co-sponsored Cuban and Vietnamese refugees. 

“She just had a heart for that type of thing,” said her daughter-in-law. “She always wanted to help people out that needed help.”

She also assisted her mother in helping developmentally handicapped people perform useful and rewarding tasks at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation in Whittier.

Ms. Hadley became an active member of St. Madeleine’s Catholic Church in Pomona, decorating the church for special Holy Days, caring for the altar linens, organizing the “60th Chinese Birthday” party for Fr. Andrew Tsiu and singing at Mass.  She was blessed with a remarkable singing voice, shared her family, and enjoyed singing at church and at a variety of other gatherings. 

In spite of Ms. Hadley’s busy schedule, she made time for her family and especially enjoyed hosting family dinners, birthday parties and holiday get-togethers.  Her greatest joy was shopping for gifts—especially themed gift baskets—for family and friends. 

“Every holiday she would remember everybody,” said Ms. Hadley, who noted that even Halloween baskets were forthcoming from her mother-in-law.

Ms. Hadley also loved to travel by car to the Solvang area and to Sedona and Flagstaff, Arizona.  Her local pleasures were going to Disneyland, participating in Claremont’s 4th of July Celebration and the Village Venture and using season tickets to enjoy performances at the Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theater, which she attended from its inception. 

“Every show,” said her daughter-in-law.

Ms. Hadley is survived by her daughters and sons-in-law, Leslie and David Rudy, Stephanie and Steven Johnson and Stacey and David Robbins; by her son and daughter-in-law, Michael and Suzanne Hadley; by her son, Brook Hadley; by her grandchildren, Nicole Rudy, Matthew Rudy, Jennifer Rudy, Eric Johnson, Christina Johnson, Michelle Hadley, Rebecca Hadley, Christopher Robbins and Taylor Robbins; by her great-grandson, Luke Rudy; by her mother, Mary Wheaton; by her mother-in-law, Joan “Jo” Hadley; by her husband’s half-sisters, Katherine Mulchin and her husband, Richard, and Julie Bishop and her husband, Bruce; by her husband’s half-brothers, James Hadley and Robert Hadley and his wife, Patricia; and by her cousins. In 1985, she was preceded in death by her husband, Dawson Hadley. She was also predeceased  by her father, Robert Wheaton, and by her father-in-law, Benjamin Hadley.

A Rosary will be recited at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow, Sunday, May 3, 2009 at Todd Memorial Chapel in Pomona. A Funeral Mass will be held at 9 a.m. on Monday, May 4, 2009 at St. Madeleine Catholic Church, and interment will take place at Holy Cross Cemetery in Pomona.