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Sheila began her military career when she was teaching nurses in Chicago in the early days of the Vietnam War and the U.S. army approached her with a request. They asked if they could speak to her graduating nurses in an effort to recruit desperately needed nurses for the war effort. As a patriot, Sheila readily said yes but later joked that "the only nurse they recruited was me". Sheila wanted immediate assignment to Vietnam where she could help the most but it turned out she was redirected to fill a gap at the 12th USASA Field Station, with the written promise her next assignment would be Vietnam.Thus, we in Chitose were benefited with Sheila's strong nursing skills and hard work ethic.

To return to the Vietnam story, Sheila went on to Vietnam where she excelled as always in her performance and rapidly rose to the position of overseeing the entire nurses contingent at the largest military hospital in Vietnam. To reflect her superior level of performance, Sheila was promoted to Lt. Colonel, a very high rank for any female officer at that time. Sheila was highly invested in her Vietnam service and she maintained her contacts with her coworkers and patients from that time throughout the rest of her life.

Although Vietnam service was the centerpiece of Sheila's military service, and indeed life, Sheila contributed greatly to the Chitose Reunion Association with her customary enthusiasm, organizing skills , and attention to detail. Sheila sponsored several reunions and played a large role in all the meetings. Sheila particularly enjoyed presiding with Mary Calder over the registration desk at every reunion, where Sheila quizzed every arriving veteran about their lives .. and was very free with no-nonsense advice. Sheila considered the reunion group and its members an important part of her life and we all were better for it. She has been deeply missed and people at the reunions are still reminiscing fondly about her, and likely will for many years to come. John Haberstroh