SHEILA MORRISON

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SHEILA MORRISON On Tuesday, April 21, 2009, we lost our great friend, sister, aunt, mentor and soul mate, Sheila Morrison. There are no appropriate expressions of grief or sadness for the pain and the emptiness that we as her friends and family feel for her loss now, and in the years that will pass. She left us all in mid-sentence, and now all we want is to finish that last conversation that we were having with her just the other day ...and we know that we would use the opportunity to say what is never said enough in day-to-day life...I love you. Sheila was born in Norwood on December 15, 1946, to Jack and Helen Morrison. The daughter of an old-school Scottish soccer player and artist, she inherited his quick wit, creative soul and a gift for expression through language. She matriculated through Nelson Mac Collegiate and then on to the business world. In 1966, just out of secretarial school, she became the secretary of Canada's NEW National Hockey Team headquartered in Winnipeg, working under Coach Jackie McLeod and General Manager Father David Bauer. When the Nats hockey team left Winnipeg in 1969, she founded The Fine Line, the now ultra-successful Winnipeg Communications Company. Never one to let the grass grow under her feet, Sheila, being the consummate entrepreneur and adventurer, made her way west where she lived the life of a singer, then restaurateur, and ultimately, as the owner of The Business Group another highly successful packaged office complex in Edmonton and Vancouver. Sheila reveled in her relationships with staff and clients in those days but the creative spirit that drove her, and her love of motion pictures, ultimately led to the pursuit of a new dream as a screenwriter. With several of her adapted screenplays in hand, and investment seed money, Sheila headed to Los Angeles. She approached this new experience with all of the vigor, confidence and enthusiasm that we all knew her for and power-lunched with many of the biggest names in Hollywood. It didn't matter much to her that the risk could have been greater than the reward, but she may have taken a tip from the street sign in Hollywood where her 67 Vauxhall Viva sputtered its last blue smoke on The Boulevard of Broken Dreams! The experience was, she would often say in later years, character building. YIKES! There are still some of her potentially classic movie screenplays sitting in offices collecting dust all over Tinseltown (see Flanagan's Run ). Knowing Sheila, it wasn't for lack of trying that those great movies were never made! After a short stint to recharge in the Turks and Caicos Islands, it was another writing opportunity in Calgary, Alberta that led her to the greatest unending friendship of her life with John Robichaud. Sheila's outgoing personality and management experience was a perfect foil for John's intensely creative drive as a documentary film-maker. They worked closely on getting John's work produced and broadcast around the world with great success. In 2002 Sheila and John decided that tiny rural Wolfville, Nova Scotia with its rich artistic community, breathtaking scenery and simpler way of life, would be the next destination in life's adventure. They bought a lovely piece of land in the beautiful Gaspereau Valley and in 2005 began to build their environmentally-friendly dream home ( Wolfville is the new Victoria, she would say, except cheaper to live...and with artists!! ) Although the amazing home that was created on their little country lot turned out to be everything they wanted it to be and more, the continuing hilarious stories worthy of Stephen Leacock, involving nefarious local contractors, getting materials down the hill, and reasons for about another million unscheduled building delays, filled our emails weekly and brought tears to our eyes. With her amazing powers of observation and writing skills, Sheila could turn any ordinary event into a work of pure comedy. With the Internet, email now reconnected her friends, old and new, to her continuing journey. Those of us lucky enough to be connected know that every day brought new She-mails, some with humorous viral content; but most of them had personal messages to each of us. Most people guard their privacy somewhat, but even though you might live in Vancouver, you knew what Sheila was doing at all times, like she was your next-door neighbor and the doors and windows to her house were wide open! In 2006 she set about bringing to the world the extraordinary stories that remarkable local individuals had to tell. The incredible people of Nova Scotia and the Wolfville area offered fertile ground for her talents as an editor and in bringing stories to the printed page. Soon there were great stories from around the Maritimes, the Prairies and beyond. Sheila believed that everyone had a unique story, and she created Just-Write Pages to help those who had found the courage to put their hearts down on paper but needed that extra hand to turn their story into a book. Authors; Betty Morgan, Bill Parrish, Cam Hameline, John Grant and others in development know the quality of her work and were thrilled to have her talents at their disposal. We are all enriched for their stories having been told in the most effective way possible. Throughout her life in Winnipeg, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and ultimately her final and favourite home, Wolfville, NS, Sheila cultured friendships like oysters culture pearls - she made us all shine. Easy to know and easy to talk to, she was fully committed to you, always looking below the surface to see what made us who we were. Sheila always made you feel as if you were the important one in the relationship. She never diminished you or let cynicism infect the conversation. It was all good, all constructive. Conversations with Sheila were always personal, insightful, engaging, instructive and above all, fun. She could find humour in any situation, no matter how grave, and somehow, it always seemed appropriate. In that respect, we all became her family and she our older sister. And like a caring sister, she gave us all the individual support and love that was deep and honest - and now, as it turns out, so painful, as we struggle in vain to return some measure of love and gratitude. She would not want us to despair in this futility, so perhaps, When you are sorrowful, look into your heart and you shall see that you are weeping for that which has been your delight -Kahlil Gibran. Left to mourn her passing are her friend and partner John Robichaud; adopted family, the Broeskas; her brother-in-law Gordon McKee; niece Liz and Cliff Gogal and their twins Dayna and Dustin; and nephew John and Sue McKee. She was predeceased by her mother Helen and father Jack; sister Lee; nephew Sandy; John Broeska, and his daughter Marcia. There are also hundreds of friends from across Canada who would call her, “family.” Her story is now written, but the book is not closed. Interment will take place in Kentville NS, and there will be memorial services held in Wolfville and Winnipeg at a later date. Please watch the paper for announcements. In lieu of flowers or gifts, donations in Sheila’s memory may be made to an organization very dear to her heart: the Acadia Cinema Cooperative - Al Whittle Theatre 450 Main Street Wolfville, NS, B4P 1E2

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Apr 30, 2009