Obituary of Sheila Ross

SHEILA R. ROSS Longtime Parkersburg resident Sheila Ross, 82 passed away peacefully from complications of Alzheimer’s Disease, with her husband Allen Ross by her side, at The Meridian at Englewood in Colorado. Her daughter Leigh Harbin had visited with her shortly before. Sheila was born at St. Joseph's Hospital in Parkersburg, WV, Sept. 19, 1933 to Leone Elizabeth Wigal Yates and Charles Ray Yates. She attended 100 year old McKinley Elementary School in Parkersburg, WV; Mirror Lake Junior High in St. Petersburg, Fl. and Parkersburg High School in WV; graduating with the class of 1951. At PHS, she was a member of the Chere A Nous Sub Deb Club and made many lifelong friends. She regularly attended her 1951 class reunions. She graduated from George Williams College in Illinois, meeting her long term goal of getting a degree before age 50. She was Summa Cum Laude with a perfect 4.0 GPA. She worked in retail at The Surprise Store and Dils Brothers and Company and was later employed at The Bureau of the Public Debt a division of the U.S. Treasury. In addition to Parkersburg, she also resided in St. Petersburg, FL., Downers Grove and Lombard, IL., Stone Mountain, GA. and the Denver suburb, Englewood, CO. She loved traveling with her husband and daughter, visiting London, Bermuda, Paris, Canada, Alaska, Hawaii and many other areas in the United States. Sheila enjoyed the arts in many forms. She had a talent for both drawing and painting. She was an avid reader. Among her many favorite writers were Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, H.L. Mencken, C.S. Lewis, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Ogden Nash. A lifelong fan of movies and theater, she was an active member of the Actors Guild of Parkersburg for many years. She acted on stage in Night Must Fall and Rain, she served on the play reading committee, and assisted in directing Fiddler on the Roof, meeting her second husband there, who was part of the cast and Beckett. Her favorite singer was Frank Sinatra, but she also enjoyed Tony Bennett and Willie Nelson, among others. She played Scrabble with great skill, enthusiasm, and sportsmanship. She was preceded in death by her parents; her two dearest friends, Joyce Haynes and Joan Rake; her aunts, Jean Cummings, Billie Desmond, and Annabelle Edwards; as well as her ex-husband, Paul "Bud" Harbin. She is survived by her husband of 37 years, Allen S. Ross; daughter, Leigh Harbin and her husband, Bob; stepson, David Ross and his wife, Sandy; stepson, Bill Ross and his wife, Debbie; and stepdaughter, Elizabeth Maloney, her husband, John, and their children Abbey, John Wiley, Stephen, Lucy, and Harry, who all called her "Granny Sheila". She is also survived by many close friends. Graveside Services were held at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver, CO; followed by a Memorial Service (officiated by Pastor Debbie Lawrence, UMC and Rabbi Richard Rheins, Temple Sinai) at The Meridian at Englewood, in the Sky Room overlooking the Rocky Mountains, on Friday, Nov. 20. A reception followed. A second memorial service will be held in Parkersburg at a later date. Contributions to Alzheimer Research at Mayo Clinic, Department of Development, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905 or charity of choice.