July 12, 1944 - March 15, 2019
Sheila passed away peacefully on March 15 at the age of 74 years.
She is survived by her husband, the love of her life, Ross and their children Brendan (Laurie), Aaron (Monika) and Sheldon (Paige) and grandchildren Nicolette, Xera, Sophia and Declan.
Sheila was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK during WW2 and grew up in a loving family with many fond childhood memories. She was athletic from a young age starting with skipping, then scuba diving, hiking, skiing, etc as well as weekend dances. Like her father, Sheila had "itchy feet" which was encouraged by camping and vacationing in the Mediterranean with her parents. So in 1966 she went to work for the UN in Geneva with the goals of learning French and becoming a good skier, achieving both. Sheila became an amazing skier, and after immigrating to Canada in 1975, these skills were passed on to her husband and children. Just before her illness started in 2016, Sheila and Ross (age 71) skied an exhilarating 5 mile run out at Whistler.
Sheila met Ross in a ski club in Ottawa and at the spring 1976 wind-up party they had a couple of wonderful dances. This led to a "dance" date and little did she know but the incredible kiss at her door that night would lead to a life of love and adventure with Ross. They married in the UK in Aug 1977.
Being in her thirties and wanting a family, Sheila and Ross quickly had three sons, the first in Ottawa, the second in Edmonton and the third in Vancouver - all in 4 years! These were part of many moves (Ross was in mining). Fortunately Sheila loved change and embraced these moves with a true sense of adventure, grace, planning and wonderful execution because of her amazing organizational skills! She met and made many friends.
She was very creative and loved to cook, decorate (many times when moving), garden, renovate, paint, sew and knit and for many years has had her own craft/hobby room. She even ran her own decorating business from 1986-89.
Although Sheila had many jobs over the years, finishing in Surrey City Councilors' office in 2004, she said that by far her favorite job was running her home - being a wife and mother and spending time with her family and having time to do creative things.
Sheila's "itchy feet" kept her on the road throughout her life and particularly in the last 15 years when Ross and she visited many parts of the world, sometimes needing to encourage Ross. In 1997 a cruise brought dancing back into her life and then she "danced-up-a-storm" for the next 20 years.
Sheila described herself as a fatalist: don't worry about the past - it's done; plan what you can for the future and once you gather lots of facts and make a clear detailed to-do list - just relax; but most importantly live life now and smile and laugh with those you care about. Do something creative and do things now, don't procrastinate. When she became sick - her attitude was "there is nothing I can do about it, it is was it is" - and she would move on - "so now what are we doing for supper"? What an attitude, and she truly lived her life in this way.
In spite of many achievements in her life, Sheila was truly humble (no airs and graces) about herself. She was a positive, caring, kind, sincere, gentle, warm, humorous remarkable woman, she will be greatly missed by her family and all those who knew her.
A celebration of life memorial of Sheila's life will be held on Friday March 29th at 10:30 AM at the Victory Memorial Park Funeral Centre, 14831 - 28 Avenue, Surrey, BC.
No flowers please, donations to Peace Arch Hospice greatly appreciated.
Victory Memorial Park Funeral Centre
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Service Details
10:30 AM