Wendy Feldman, doctor and avid gardener, dies at 57

Her friends and neighbors in Rancho Murieta knew Wendy Feldman as a doctor, a devoted wife and mother, an avid gardener, and a charter member of the Rotary Club. But most didn’t realize she struggled with cancer for many years.  “She had been sick on and off for decades, before I met her even,” said Rick Feldman, her husband of 22 years. “She had several different bouts with several different types. We were so lucky to have the 22 years. It could have been 10 years, it could have been three years.” Mrs. Feldman died at home Tuesday at the age of 57.

His wife’s zest for life, and courage and grace in the face of adversity were an inspiration to all who knew her. “She was very special,” Feldman said. “We just did everything together. She taught me to garden. We were very much a team.”

Before building their home in the Fairways overlooking the North Course in 2001, the couple lived on five acres in Elk Grove. Compared to that, gardening in Rancho Murieta was going to be easy, they thought. 

“She never saw a patch of land she couldn’t improve with her vision, her green thumb, and a pair of pruning shears,” Rick Feldman said. Every day they would take a tour of the garden before she went to work. Mrs. Feldman took deer damage in stride, her husband recalled. “There were mornings when we got up and the deer had used her flowers for dental floss, and we kind of rolled with it,” he said.

Theirs was one of gardens featured on the 2008 Rancho Murieta Women’s Club Garden Tour.

In addition to being active in the Women’s Club, Mrs. Feldman encouraged her husband to join the Rotary Club. Both became charter members.

The Feldmans visited Italy last year for “the trip of a lifetime,” Rick Feldman said. “We just tried to make the most of things.”

The Feldmans have two college-age sons, David and Andy, and his wife adored them, Feldman said. “She was happy and proud for her boys.”  You can see just how proud she was when Andy became an Eagle Scout in 2009.

Wendy Wechsler was born on July 20, 1954 in Stockton. She grew up in Virginia, graduating with highest distinction from the University of Virginia. She received her medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia.  After completing an anesthesiology residency at UCLA, she moved to the Sacramento area and worked at Mercy General Hospital for over 26 years, until her retirement last July. 

His wife often mentioned how much she loved her job and how wonderful she felt every day when she stepped in the door of the hospital, Feldman said.  She was particularly proud of having been the first female partner in her medical group, and never more so than when other doctors and nurses asked her to administer anesthesia for themselves or their loved ones, he said.

“When she got sick again and had to go the hospital, it was like going down the hall with a rock star. People would come running out of rooms” to greet his wife, Feldman said. “It was amazing how they responded.”

In addition to her husband and sons,  Mrs. Feldman is survived by her sister, Laura Martin of New Jersey, and her brother, John Wechsler of Texas.

The family will hold a celebration of life for Mrs. Feldman next summer at Lake Clementia close to the time of her birthday.  In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Breast Cancer Resource Center, 59 Paul Robeson Place, Princeton, N.J. 08534 (www.ywcaprinceton.org) or to Planned Parenthood.