Sheilah Renee Goodman

On a balmy day on August 13, 1945, Oswald Sr and Beryl Glymph welcomed their third child into the family to join her fellow siblings, Oswald “Butch” Glymph Jr and Stephanie Glymph, and named this bundle of joy, Sheilah Renee Glymph, a native Washingtonian. Reared in an atmosphere of love, accomplishment, and good times, Sheilah experienced the best her parents had to offer and could provide with “their good government jobs”. Sheilah came of age in the Northwest section of the city and counted those days as some of the most memorable, and precious days of her life. It was a wonderful time to attend the DC public schools that were within walking distance of her home. Sheilah later graduated from Anna L. Burdick Vocational High School for girls in 1963.

Sheilah’s home environment claimed several generations as her senior grandmother, Mae Floyd, resided with them, and later her youngest sister, Cardelia (Dee Dee), appeared on the scene when Sheilah was a teenager. With that change in the family unit also ushered in a stepfather in the person of Whitt Roberts, Dee Dee’s father and Beryl’s new husband. Sheilah embraced the change in the family and accepted the love and guidance of her new stepfather while remaining close, loving, and respectful of her own father. That was the hallmark of Sheilah’s life: an expanded heart designed to welcome others into her life and to be the best person she could be without reservation. Sheilah credited Whitt with teaching her practical, life surviving skills that permitted her to not only survive, but thrive in this world, against all odds.

Sheilah enrolled in college and later accepted employment with the United States Department of Justice and worked there enthusiastically until she left to pursue her passion for cosmetology.

Along the way she met and married Joseph DelMarr and the couple produced their only child: Sean, allowing Sheilah to become wife and mother. Later, the couple realized they were better friends than a married couple and they parted ways. Sheilah married Al Goodman and the family expanded by two more sons: Al-Ahmad and Al-Malik thus completing the family.

Sheilah was an intelligent woman from a well-educated family. She desired to return to college and complete her education. She did so with such a seriousness of purpose that she graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor’s in Computer Information Technology from Strayer University after the age of 50. Sheilah made a career change and was hired as a Program Support Assistant at the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) with the DC Government.

Death came as a thief in the night on November 18, 2022: not a hint of illness, premonition, nothing. In a fleeting moment, death stilled her voice and our Sheilah, our Mother, Sister, Grandmother, Aunt, Cousin, and Friend departed this earth.

We are blessed with her memories, and we know that they will be cherished by, Hasan Sean DelMarr (Wife: Kim), Al-Ahmad Goodman, and Al-Malik Goodman, sister Cardelia Roberts-Latimore (Husband: Walker), Talmage Roberts (Wife: Mary) her grandchildren Imani DelMarr, Hasan DelMarr Jr, Malia Goodman, Aaliyah Rosario, Nevaeh Goodman, Laiyla Goodman and Zayd Goodman, great-grandson Prince Malik DelMarr-Mason, and a host of nieces, nephews, great-nieces and cousins Leonard Higgs, Francine Higgs-Shipman, Jacqueline Higgs-Caldwell, Reginald “Blood” Rogers, relatives, friends and her DYRS family.

The family takes comfort in the fact that our beloved Sheilah Renee Goodman finished this race with joy, and that she survived “People!” May she rest in peace and rise in paradise.