Sheila Conner
courtesy photo
Sheila Conner
RONAN — Sheila Schmitz Conner was born on May 24, 1953, to Phillip and Florence Schmitz and joined siblings Cherryl, Dee, Phil (Butch) and Barb. She attended schools at Villa Ursula in St. Ignatius and Ronan, graduating from Ronan High School in 1971. Sheila continued her education at Montana State University in Bozeman and Eastern in Billings, graduating from Eastern Montana University with a degree in special education. She loved working with children with learning challenges, since she had dyslexia. Mrs. Mercedes LeDesky helped her overcome her dyslexia in the first grade. Sheila spent the majority of her career in Ronan and Pablo Elementary Schools working with preschool, pre-first, resource room and multiple challenged classrooms. She retired from teaching in 2013 but loved seeing her kids around town and at events.
After Sheila retired, she volunteered at Ronan Bread Basket where she helped sort, collect and distribute food. She also served on the Board of Directors. She also volunteered as a driver (Driving Miss Daisy) for Lake County Council on Aging. She also volunteered for the Cancer Support Group for a number of years at both St. Luke and St. Joseph Hospitals.
Sheila loved to travel and traveled with People to People International Travel Program as director with groups of Student Ambassadors to Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, England, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Africa, and Greece. She said, “In all of my travels, I want to go back to South Africa to work with the multiple challenged people. They are so happy, so poor and make so much beauty from so little.” Other favorites were Nice in France and Portugal.
Sheila married Greg Conner in 1984 at Flathead Lake and enjoyed riding motorcycles and doing photography with him. She laughed and called herself a “Harley Momma Teacher” and loved spending time with Greg on his Harley with his biker friends and their mommas.
Sheila left us on Jan. 18, 2021, in the early morning after several years of serious health problems. She loved life and had a strong desire to live many more years and became a “Warrior Woman” surprising many doctors by outliving her estimated lifetime.
Sheila joins her parents, Phillip and Florence (Boice) Schmitz; her brother, Phil Schmitz; her sister, Barbara (Schmitz) Schmidt; her nephews, Robbie Schmitz and Riley Gibson; her great- niece, Ashley Schmitz; her great-nephew, Julian Costantino; and numerous aunts and uncles.
She is survived by her sisters, Cherryl (Schmitz) Taylor (Jim) of Helena; Dee (Schmitz) Marie of Port Orchard, Washington; her nephews: Jason Schmitz (Jessica) of Ferrum, Virginia, Trevor Taylor (Marli) of Helena, Dewey Gibson of Gig Harbor, Washington; her nieces, Melony Schmitz Candida Costantino (Armando) of Italy, Jolene Schmitz of Ronan, Megan (Schmitz) Kramer (Garrett) of Kalispell, Mistelle Taylor of Seattle, Washington, Allison (Taylor) Brown (Brad) of Helena, and Skylure (Schmidt) Underhill (Brian) of Spokane, Washington; and seven great-nephews and great-nieces.
A celebration of Sheila’s life with be held in the summer for family and friends.
Messages of condolences may be shared with the family at: www.shriderthompson.com. Arrangements are under the care of Shrider-Thompson Funeral Home.
