Sheila Kirley O'Hare passed away in August, 2014 after a brief encounter with cancer, and a vibrant spirit left our circle- She will be missed! At 80, Sheila was spry, witty and totally with it, as her skype friends could attest. Her stories spun a detailed web of memories from her childhood days in Chicago and Denver, to her College days at CU Boulder (and the ski slopes), to the nomadic adventure she went on to share with husband John O'Hare and children Patrick, Colleen and Evan.

She moved her familiy to John's new project locations (Bechtel or Fluor construction projects) every 1 or 2 years, beginning in 1961, and she was always happiest seeing new places, getting the lay of the land and living the life of an expat cultural explorer- Settling in from San Francisco to Kwajalein to Wales to Perth Australia, Bellingham, Darwin, London, Cairo, Houston, Brindisi... and somehow always back to California, where she put down roots in Healdsburg in the 1980's, with John, Evan and Colleen. Along the way- Nepal, Lichtenstein, Hungary, Fiji, Puerto Vallarta, and one of her favorite places to pass through, Hawaii.

Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1933,  Sheila was the firstborn child of Paul and Rose Kirley and a seriously cute baby girl- Like a little model from the 'rains it pours' morton's salt advertisment, she had a pixie nose and strawberry blonde curls. Her brother Patrick Paul Kirley came along a few years later, and together with their beloved Collie, Laddie, they lived on a tree-lined street in Denver, Colorado, in a stately brownstone and brick house that stands there today.

Mom's mother was one of seven sisters (the Byrnes girls, with flapper fashion to prove it), and she was the baby of an extended family that included cousins and aunts and uncles and friends... frolicking in Lake Michigan, trips to Colorado and the Rockies... Her childhood photo albums capture a spirit of simplicity that is quintessential 1930's and 1940's, and with her father's dedication in the cattle business, she was well looked after. She was truly Daddy's girl, and she was blessed with a father who was kind, smart and compassionate. He was also generous, and for her 16th birthday she received a 'baby blue' chevy convertable... She always had a twinkle in her eye when she recalled going around the block with her friends and seeing that car parked on the street, everyone cooing... only to come out of her house a couple of hours later and see it in her driveway.

Sheila took up an interest in advertising after college (she majored in English at Boulder), and she loved to recount how excited she was when the 'Madmen' in her advertising office actually gave her the new cookie account to herself! Quite a deal in the 50's... A humorous writer, Sheila was a vorascious reader and it was likely, if you told her about a new book you were reading, that she could tell you all about the author and the screenplay (wasn't as good); and the other five books they'd written... Her husband John loved to do the Sunday crossword puzzle, but we all knew who was really solving the clues!

Sheila met John Austin O'Hare, a handsome young Air Force captain, in Boulder in the late 1950's (he was with the inaugural  Air Training Officers when the Air Force Academy was formed in Missourie and later Colorado Springs). Married in 1959, they made an attractive couple, though early marriage had its typical challenges for a couple in the service. After a scenic stint in Malden, MI, and John's solo stint in Massawa, Japan, they were reunited in San Francisco where they had their first child Patrick in 1961. They used to laugh about wearing black polo neck sweaters and heading out in the neighborhood with the beats and musicians... and visits to the Mingaya restaruant, or Charlie Low's Forbidden City... Sheila was brought up to be accepting and open minded, and San Francisco was an interesting place back then.

Six months after Patrick's birth, they were off- to Kwajalein in the South Pacific. Sheila was beautiful and a real ham in her hawaiian print dresses, doing the hula in 8 milimeter technicolor (occasionally). They made life-long friendships on that dot in the middle of the Pacific, including Dan and Annette Schmidt, who with their children Greg and Valerie, would come to be lifelong family friends. Within the first year, Colleen was born- the first American born on the Island, and Sheila used to trundle Patrick (in the back seat) and Colleen (in the basket) all over the island... well before helmets came into vogue.

Kwajalein was filled with close friends- Dan and Annette, Sydney and Jana, and a tight knit group who shared martinis under the stars (while Nike Zeus missle test-launches lit up the sky)... It was a far away place, and Sheila shines in photos and movies from those days against a background of tropical sunsets and aqua blue water. 

Back to California- Orinda in the San Francisco East Bay... Pre-traffic suburbia with green hills and citrus in the yard; youth and vigor;  her third child, Evan, was born, completing this Swiss Family Robinson on the verge of departure...Evan was a rh negative baby, and the family had to wait several weeks for him to come home from the hospital. But he finally did, and with Evan not quite 1, Colleen 4 and Patrick 5, the family departed for Wales in 1966. A far cry from martinis on the beach, Sheila found herself in a house called "Castle Rising" in Haverford West, and from the tiny oven to the ice-less pubs and a pasture with a horse named Peter, it was like a trip back in time (made complete by her 1940's VW bug which John had travelled to Holland to purchase, but that's another story).  

So begins the first chapter of Sheila's adventure. We are all so sad to see her go, but surely she is with John on the next project posting, doing the hula with a knowing smile and waiting some day to meet up with us all again, martinis under the stars and adventures by the score...