Submitted by Angela Callan

Sheila and I were friends for 60 years. We were both students at Bedford College at London University in 1960 having come from disadvantaged backgrounds we both had achieved State Scholarships which was a very prestigious award. We both worked very hard to achieve our degrees and spent our graduation day together with our families. We were very privileged to receive our degrees from the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen mother.

We had met walking back from Mass one day to our accommodation and shared our deep Catholic faith the whole of our lives. Even at that point I realised Shelia was a great listener, making you feel that your story was important to her. Sheila was also always up for adventure especially wanting to travel aboard. So after our finials she persuaded me to go to a student work camp with her, thinking we would be digging for artefacts in Herculaneum. We ended up laying pine branches on a Dutch beach to prevent erosion. We had to wash our hair under a cold pump and eat bread with everything including ginger cake. I learnt then that everything really was adventure with Sheila.

After University we shared a flat while doing our Dip Ed., although I dropped out and took temporary jobs. Life was new and exciting, with Sheila, even having our 90 year old landlord making a pass at her.

Very soon Sheila was off on her travels teaching Latin in Jamaica. I always regret not visiting her there, so when she got her next post in Kenya I went on a trip of lifetime in 1971 with Trevor my boyfriend at the time, later my husband. The time together was amazing, visiting beautiful beaches, the equator and going on safari. Sheila was living life in the fast lane with an amazing social life having 3 men friends interested at one time, one Asian, one African and one English. This caused embarrassing situations when more than one turned up at a particular social event. Sheila always kept us all alert!

Shelia was my bridesmaid when I married Trevor in 1973 and she helped and encouraged me to make my wedding dress. However, having got to know Sheila well by then there was always the question of whether she would actual turn up on the day required. This never left my thoughts throughout our lifelong friendship, as so many unpredictable things always happened to Shelia. Once I had invited her for Christmas and she finally arrived the day after Boxing Day, due to drunken revellers in her garden all Christmas Eve night!

Over the years Shelia always kept in touch while she travelled, writing long and interesting letters, and then would turn up unannounced. Sheila was always good at improvising. One Christmas when her ill health prevented her going out to buy Christmas presents she gave Trevor a packet of
wallpaper paste making it sound like the most desirable present imaginable. This was one of Sheila gifts. Drama followed Sheila wherever she went: when turning up unexpected at my family home in Cornwall when her health started to decline she collapsed in a hedge and a passer-by contacted my mother to come and help. She was diagnosed with a condition called Hashimoto’s disease, a name that was fitting for an illness for Sheila to suffer from, completely eccentric. Sheila battled with a very painful cancer of the lip for many years with great fortitude.

Sheila loved her four legged friends both Lady and Buster, with them accompanying her everywhere including church services. Buster attended Trevor’s funeral along with Shelia in 2010, no other dogs where present.

Shelia was so idealistic and not wanting to compromise and this sometimes led to her making life more difficult for herself. With her swath of red hair to the very end – I shall miss you Shelia Finneran, there was never a dull moment, you brightened all our lives. May God Bless you. Requiescat In Pace.