PORTLAND — Sheila A. McNabb of Portland, a woman with a special gift for putting children at ease, died unexpectedly on Monday, April 6, her 70th birthday. She had been admitted to Mercy Hospital three days earlier for treatment of a rare bacterial infection in her lungs. The condition was diagnosed after she failed to recover from pneumonia.
She and her husband, David, who was holding her when she died, would have celebrated their 48th anniversary on May 4.
Her death came as she was celebrating five years of being cancer-free following a grueling treatment regimen for Stage III triple-negative breast cancer.
Sheila devoted much of her life to children, first her own three sons and later her six grandchildren.
While waiting to be blessed with grandchildren, she filled that hole in her life by caring for a very special niece, Elizabeth Houle, from infancy through elementary school, helping her parents raise a strong, accomplished young woman. Sheila and Elizabeth developed a bond that remains strong even today.
Most recently she volunteered in the second-grade classroom of her granddaughter Samantha, whom she helped raise.
Sheila became a grandmother figure to all the children in Kelley Holmes’ class at Longfellow School. The pupils, like her own grandkids, called her Popo. It was a role she cherished and was perfectly suited for. When she missed a few of the volunteer sessions because of illness, the children sent her an envelope stuffed with handmade get-well cards. The pictures and sentiments touched her deeply.
Her determination to do the best for children assumed crusadelike proportions in 1980 when she was raising a young family in Saco, where voters had approved a tax cap a year earlier.
She spearheaded an effort to repeal the cap, which had devastated education and recreation programs, working day and night to convince voters to overturn the artificial limit on property taxes. Voters rewarded the effort by narrowly approving repeal in a June referendum.
The family later moved to Portland.
Children weren’t Sheila’s only passion. She returned to work later in life, finding a new purpose as a customer service representative with L.L. Bean. She enjoyed solving problems for customers and made many new friends among co-workers.
She stopped work to help raise her granddaughter, just another example of the many personal sacrifices she made over her lifetime to ensure that a child get all the love and attention that he or she needed.
Sheila grew up in Portland and graduated from the former Cathedral High School. She worked in the offices of the former New England Telephone Co. for five years before marriage steered her to the most challenging and under-appreciated role of all: loving wife, mother and caregiver. It was a role she was born to fill.
Her interests also included crafts, jewelry design, live theater, television news and spending time with friends and family.
In addition to her parents, Edward F. and Kathleen A. Smith, Sheila was predeceased by a sister, Kathleen Schidzig, and a brother, Edward F. Smith Jr.
Besides her husband, she is survived by three sons, Dennis (Yung) of Alameda, California, and their children Yishan, Mulan and Kaiqi; Brian (Shireen) of Huntington, Vermont, and their children Nate and Zoey; and Matthew of Falmouth and his daughter, Samantha. She is also survived by two brothers, Christopher C. (Kathy) of Ireland and Florida, and Paul E. (Candace) of Freeport.
Visiting hours will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Conroy-Tully Crawford Funeral Home, 172 State St., Portland.
A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated Friday at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph Church, 673 Stevens Ave., Portland. Burial will follow at Evergreen Cemetery. Online condolences may be expressed at www.ctcrawford.com.
Those desiring may make memorial contributions to The Center for Grieving Children, 555 Forest Ave., Portland, ME 04101.
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