He had moved to Quebec from Chazy, New York in the late nineteenth century, hoping to make it rich in the lumber business, but was wiped out by a forest fire.

Her achievements were also instrumental in increasing the popularity of the sport both nationwide and in her native Quebec where what was once a remote destination in the Laurentian mountains for only a limited few became a thriving ski area with an abundance of quality facilities that attracts hundreds of thousands of skiers every winter.

In June 1960, Wheeler married Kaye Vaughan, former player with the Ottawa Rough Riders and member of the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame.

Wheeler was voted the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's most outstanding athlete of 1958 and was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame.

[6] In 1976, she was made a member of the Order of Canada, her country's highest civilian honour, and was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.