Sheila VanFrank Obituary

Sheila M. VanFrank

1926 - 2023

Salt Lake City, UT-Sheila Margaret Alison Watkins VanFrank took her leave from us on October 11, 2023 at age 97. She and Queen Elizabeth II lived practically parallel lives (born a month apart on the same island, Girl Guide/Scout at the same time, married the same year, similar dental health) but Sheila outlived the Queen by one year and two months.

Born in Swansea, Wales, UK, on March 7, 1926, to J.R. and Ida Watkins, Sheila immigrated by boat to the U.S. just shy of her second birthday. This curly redheaded munchkin sweet-talked everyone on the ship, and then charmed her way through Ellis Island under the apparent alias "MargeTH." At age 18, she had a choice to remain a British citizen or become a naturalized U.S. citizen; she chose the latter.

Life in the 30s in Newburgh, NY had Sheila playing with the Rockefeller kids across the Hudson River, and that "good looking guy" Roger VanFrank down the street. She and Roger dated through high school, then Sheila attended and graduated from Albany Teachers College while he went off to WWII. They married in 1947, and she supported him through architecture school in Cincinnati, OH and Norman, OK. He always told people that he had "married up."

Pregnant with child #4 of the eventual six, Sheila moved with Roger and child #s 1-3 to Salt Lake City in 1955. They made life work in a rental for several years, then saved up enough to buy a house on the gully bordered by Michigan Avenue in the Harvard/Yale area, where she lived until she died.

Michigan Ave was the site of dozens of improvement projects over the years, the first one started by her slamming a sledgehammer into a basement wall exclaiming "I'm tired of talking about this." The house was improved and maintained in no small part through electrician skills Sheila learned from her dad, as well as her self-taught plumbing, painting, and appliance repair knowledge.

Sheila was an accomplished knitter who created a legacy of sweaters. She was especially gifted at fisherman knits with intricate cables-a tribute to her seafaring Welsh ancestors. A creative sewer and skilled upholsterer, she never met a DIY craft project she wouldn't at least try. Sheila liked shopping, being in water, sitting in the sun, hoarding orchids, and gazing appreciatively at blue skies, rainbows, and gorgeous scenery. She preferred her toes copper, her eggs runny, her steaks rare, her bourbon iced, her hot tubs steaming, and ice cream for dinner.

Sheila played the piano and loved to sing. Roger sometimes called her "Torchy," in reminiscence of her college radio show. She sang with the choir at the Unitarian Church for a few years, then joined the Utah Chorale, the chorus that performed with the Utah Symphony under the direction of Maurice Abravanel and Ardean Watts. She took great pride and joy in performing Beethoven's Ninth, Carmina Burana, the Messiah, and many other pieces. Off she'd go to concerts in her black dress, sheet music tucked under her arm, often taking one or two of us along-it's what sparked our love of classical music. Sheila loved 20th century musicals too-a fan of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, she taught us the lyrics to King & I, West Side Story, Holiday Inn, Wizard of Oz, and so many more.

Never one to shy from hard work, Sheila earned her master's degree in education while raising six children and teaching school full-time, first at Parkview Elementary and then at Wasatch Elementary. Over more than two decades, hundreds of students saw "Mrs. VanFrank" pull up in her signature bright yellow Karmen Ghia. Former students remembering her now say, "Mrs. VanFrank helped me feel confident," and also, "Mrs. VanFrank was strict." "She was kind." "She helped me understand that learning could be exciting." "She didn't mess around," and also, "She taught me that laughing was an important part of growing up." "She encouraged creativity and to trust myself." "I loved her." She loved you all, too.

Mother taught her six children in the same way-her philosophy was to give us "roots and wings." She was strict about homework and wanted us to figure stuff out ourselves rather than go to her for the answer- "Go look it up!" The encyclopedia set and the 13-pound Webster's dictionary open at all times in the front room got a good workout. The main activity on babysitting occasions with Grandmother, grandkids recall, was filling out worksheets or writing essays. She was the Grammar Goddess; even our work colleagues would turn to her for grammar arbitration, and her decisions were always final. Likewise, housework roots and wings- "Look around to see what needs to be done! Then do it!" Likewise, life roots and wings- "Get your nose out of that book, go outside and look around!"

Sheila's and Roger's generosity and curiosity led them to host dozens of Rotary foreign exchange students in the 1970s and 80s, several of whom stay in touch and are happily still members of the VanFrank clan.

In their retirement years, Roger's health failed and Sheila kept up her own by hefting his scooter and him in and out of the car for the Symphony, Sunday drives, errands, and doctor appointments. A devoted caretaker, Sheila was married to Roger for 66 years, until he died in 2013. After that, Sheila remained spry, volunteering at the U of U Hospital, and attending biweekly swimming and gym classes into her 90s. At age 97, her exercise routine having been interrupted by the pandemic, she finally stuck to jigsaw puzzling and the news.

Sheila is preceded in death by Roger, as well as child #3 of 6 Gweneth VanCarlson (John Carlson) (OR). She is survived by her children: #1 of 6 Mereth Huemer (Sebastian)(NY), #2 of 6 Kevin VanFrank (Susan)(UT), #4 of 6 Leslie Silvestrini (Jeff) (UT), #5 of 6 Alison Owens (Stewart) (SC), and #6 of 6 Megan van Frank (John Higgins)(Michigan Ave basement-thank you, generous sibs, for making it possible for her to stay in her home where she felt comfortable, safe, and loved), as well as nine grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

A celebration of life will be held in the spring. In the meantime, a donation to the Utah Symphony in Sheila's name would be appropriate.

We miss her. But as mamasita taught us, "don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."