Sheila Neale Brown

Sheila White was born on April 18, 1933, in Sutton Coldfield, United Kingdom. She was one of five children, including her fraternal twin sister Joan, born into a working-class Quaker family.

Sheila loved reading and could always be found with a book in her hand, so it was a natural choice for her to become a librarian. As a youthful adventure, she decided to engage in a one-year job exchange with a librarian from St. Louis, Missouri in 1956. When that ended, as she was already on this side of the pond, Sheila took a trip to see the beautiful city of Vancouver before heading home. She loved it and decided to stay.

While working in the Vancouver Public Library (VPL) system, Sheila met and fell in love with Harry Brown, whom she married on August 22, 1958. They raised four children - Roger, Helen, Rachel and Fergus - and were together until Harry’s passing in 1999.

Sheila worked part-time for VPL until her retirement in 2002, as well as being a very active member of the Vancouver Friends Meeting (Quakers). A lifelong Scottish Country Dancer, Sheila taught classes for children every Saturday, and every Monday evening in the summer would find her dancing at Ceperly Park in Stanley Park. She hand-made all the dance programs in her beautiful italic handwriting for those, and other, dancing events even if unable to attend. Her other great joys were her garden and her cats.

Our thanks to the staff and volunteers at Columbus Residence, where Sheila spent her last five years, for their comfort and care.