Karen Louise (Berns) Wheaton was born on Friday, August 7, 1942 in Monroe. She was the first child of Walter and Madelyn (Hanson) Berns. The 1950 census shows them living at 18020 Kent Road in Dundee Township, Monroe County, Michigan.

She graduated from Dundee High School in 1960 and married Roger George Wheaton on June 25, 1966. Karen and Roger owned and operated the Wheaton Pharmacy in Dundee and lived in Ann Arbor. They had two children.

She died on October 4, 2017 in Ann Arbor, Michigan at the age of 75.

Karen, as a Mormon, was very involved in family genealogy and put a lot of wonderful work into the 1995 The Heiden Family book.