Sheila Marie Gillgannon

Sheila died on May 17, 2011 of a stroke that had occurred eight days earlier. At the end she was finally free of wires, tubes, transponders, monitors, bags of magical potions and apparatuses of fearsome intent. Now some history. Her maiden name was Maynard, so there were some English things at work in her, but the other half of her family were Sheas, who settled in Butte, Montana, her birthplace. And she married a Gillgannon, so you might say the English lost that particular battle to the Irish. She enjoyed things that most women her age don't think much about -- sports and video games -- and other things of wide appeal -- art, books, gardening, cooking. And she loved shoes. A lot. What was she like? She was a person of the foreground. She had opinions and didn't mind expressing them. If yours were different, well, clearly they needed some rearranging. She did more than complain about politics and was active for many years in the netherworld of planning and campaigning for the NDP. She also did counselling for Planned Parenthood and worked at the University of Regina's Faculty of Social Work. All in all, she was an intoxicating blend of thunder and marshmallows. One of her main regrets in life must be that she only got to cash three Old Age Security cheques. Another would be that she never was able to find out why obituaries are always one long paragraph. "Seems awfully Joycean," she once remarked. But she was able to catch two operas at the Met in New York, where they do operas right, and to see the Blue Jays get beat by the Bronx Bombers at Yankee Stadium. Left in her wake are husband Michael, daughter Anna, son Erin, his wife Paula (nee McBride) and their children Jasper and Simon, and brother Gerry. Thanks must go to the ICU staff at Royal University Hospital and especially to Dr. Michael Kelly, whose resolute efforts kept Sheila going until everything simply went haywire. There was a Visitation on Friday May 20,2011 at 7 p.m. at Acadia-McKague's Funeral Centre, 915 Acadia Dr., Saskatoon. Friends were invited to the family home at 1522 Preston Ave. on Saturday, May 21, 2011 beginning at 5 p.m. Whatever happens there should add greatly to this terribly condensed version of a life. Funeral arrangements were entrusted to David Grambo of Acadia-McKague’s Funeral Centre.