Candace Wheatley Thayer

Candace "Candy" Wheatley Thayer, 79, died September 1, 2024, of complications from a seizure in Portsmouth, NH. Candy was born on November 9, 1944 in Battle Creek, MI to Marcine and Colonel Melford Wheatley of Gypsum, KS. Raised an army brat, she lived all over the world as a child and developed a deep love of international travel. Following graduation from Kansas State University, Candy served as a librarian at Fort Sill in Lawton, OK, where her father was serving as Provost. There she met Gerald "Jerry" Campbell Thayer, a United States Army Artillery officer, who was attending advanced artillery school, prior to deploying to Vietnam. Upon his safe return, they were married in 1968 and lived happily together for almost 40 years, until his untimely passing in 2007. From Fort Sill, they moved to New York City and started a life together. Candy studied library science, receiving a Master's degree and commencing PhD studies, while Jerry earned an MBA. Upon graduation they moved to St. Louis, MO where Candy worked for the St. Louis Public Library, while Jerry worked for Anheuser-Busch. They would spend the next thirty years of their lives in St. Louis, growing their careers, making lifelong friends and raising a family. There, they raised two sons, Jack and Matthew and provided rich and supportive starts to their lives, with Candy raising the children. Candy reentered the workforce in 1980 as the Medical Library Director for the Sisters of St. Mary's Health System, a regional catholic hospital network. She thrived in this role and built the leading medical library network in the state of Missouri. She would serve in this capacity until she retired to Wolfeboro, NH in 1997, with Jerry following in 1999. There, she was active in the community, working as a volunteer for numerous Wolfeboro charities, including the Wolfeboro Public Library. This would become her passion, and she ultimately served on the library's Board, spearheading a campaign to raise funds to support the renovation and build out of a modern town library. She was tenacious and unwavering in her advocacy, fundraising and grant writing and celebrated the ultimate construction of a revitalized town library that serves as a center of town activity to this day. She put great effort into pursuing this dream and took enormous joy from her colleagues' and her ultimate success. Candy was a loving and devoted wife, mother, sister and friend. She was quick to laugh, a storyteller, an amazing cook, a practiced culinary student, a dedicated non-athlete, a fighter for the causes she held dear, an avid supporter of democratic causes and she was passionate in her support of the two towns in which she lived, St, Louis, MO and Wolfeboro, NH. She was also an infamous needle pointer at St. Louis Cardinal games, feigning disinterest, while cheering the Cardinals to multiple World Series successes. She was a special human being, and she will be missed. Candy is survived by her two sons, Jack and Matthew, their wives Ashley and Cathy, respectively, four grandchildren, Essex, Wheatley, Celia and Stephen and her brothers Dennis, David, Michael and Eric. A Celebration of Life service will be held at The Barn at Pickering House on 116 S Main St, Wolfeboro, NH on November 9, 2024, on what would have been her 80th birthday, at 11:30 a.m. In lieu of flowers, please direct contributions to The Wolfeboro Public Library Foundation at wolfeborolibraryfoundation.org.