One of the loveliest laughs and most infectious smiles left our world on Friday January 7, 2011 when Sheila Marie Sullivan died peacefully at St. Peter’s Hospital in Helena, MT. Her positive attitude and tenacious spirit finally succumbed to the congestive heart failure she courageously battled over the past several years. <\/p>\n
Sheila was born on March 7, 1935 to James Roy and Margaret (O’Meara) Sullivan in Butte, America. Sheila and her older sister Joan enjoyed a idyllic childhood in their beloved mining city. Sheila thrived in the Catholic school system and graduated from Girls Central in 1953. After graduation she spent two years at San Francisco College for Women before receiving her B.A. in Drama from the University of Montana in 1957. She pursued graduate work in Drama at Catholic University in Washington D.C. before returning to teach English at Butte High School. During her second year of teaching, she was romanced by the charming and persistent Townsend native, Peter W. Sullivan. After a brief courtship, they were married on November 28, 1959. What followed was a marvelous 51 year union rivaling any of her favorite romance novels. <\/p>\n
Sheila and Peter made their post-nuptial home in Helena where Peter worked as a banker for First National Bank. In 1963, they launched Sullivan Financial Group. In between raising six children and working on numerous charitable projects, Sheila was instrumental in building the fledgling enterprise into the successful business it is today. <\/p>\n
True to her gregarious and civic minded nature, Sheila immersed herself in volunteer pursuits in her newly adopted town. She was a founding member of several organizations including: The Grandstreet Theatre, Metropolitan Dinner Club and the Miss Helena Scholarship Pageant. She also enjoyed the distinction of serving as the first woman to chair the Helena School Board. Other organizations she participated in at various times of her life included: Jayceens, Girl Scouts, Carroll College Little Theater, Community Concert (Live at the Civic), United Way of Helena, St. Helena Cathedral Marriage Preparation Team, the Montana Historical Society, Lewis & Clark Foundation and Red Hats. Her volunteer work was acknowledged in 1992 by Carroll College when she was honored as one of Helena’s Outstanding Citizens of the Year. <\/p>\n
Peter and Sheila shared a great passion for travel and traversed the globe over many decades. In fact the one regret Sheila lamented in life was choosing to purchase curtains instead of joining her husband for a trip to Miami in 1969. A mistake she never made again. Sheila cherished her friends whom she joined for lunch, bridge, board meetings, holidays and, when she couldn’t avoid it, golf. She was always eager to share a giggle over the latest neighborhood gossip and community chatter. <\/p>\n
Perhaps her most successful and cherished endeavor was raising her six unique children and watching their lives unfold. Her children include USN Captain Jimmer (Brigid) Sullivan of Stuttgart,Germany; Margaret Rucka-Sullivan of Virginia Beach; ReNell (USN Captain Ret’d Jeff) Gradeck of Stuttgart, Germany; Peter Dan (Sarah) Sullivan of Helena; Shawn (Sunde) Sullivan of Coon Rapids, MN; Erin Sullivan of Manhattan, KS. Her grandchildren include Connor, Logan and Mollie Sullivan; Amanda, Meghan, and Nicole Rucka; Sam, Luke, and Kate Sullivan. <\/p>\n
Sheila will be remembered as a wonderfully colorful woman who lived life to the fullest with energy, enthusiasm and vitality. Although she would be the first to admit her faults, we will always cherish her as being authentic, compassionate, and endearing. Aside from her children and grandchildren, she is survived by her beloved husband Peter and her sister Joan Farmin of Sand Point, ID. She is preceded in death by her parents and her granddaughter Mary Sullivan. <\/p>\n
The family would like to express their enormous gratitude for the support, prayers, friendship and love given to Sheila over her lifetime. For those wanting to provide charitable contributions in Sheila’s name, some of her most dearly loved organizations included The Grandstreet Theatre, The United Way of Helena, The Lewis & Clark County Foundation, and The Friendship Center. <\/p>\n
Visitation hours will be from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday, January 10 at Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home. Vigil service will be 7:00 p.m. at Cathedral of Saint Helena. Funeral Mass will be noon Tuesday, January 11 at Cathedral of Saint Helena. A reception will be held at Green Meadow Country Club immediately following the Mass. Burial will be at Resurrection Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting: www.aswfuneralhome.com.<\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/300326_profile_pic.png","youtube_video_url":"","family_email":"","family_first_name":"","family_last_name":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}