Sheila Shain

Sheila Shain, nee Weiss, 84. Beloved wife of the late Herbert Shain and the late Jaime Sampedro; devoted mother of Michael (Andrea) Shain, Randi (Jeff) Gielczyk, and the late Stuart Shain; proud grandmother of Jordan Gielczyk and Daniel Gielczyk; sister of Wendy (Joe) Diamond and aunt of Scot Diamond; treasured daughter of the late Rayda Weiss.

Sheila loved her more than 40 year career serving and nurturing young lives as a kindergarten teacher in the Chicago Public Schools.

She lived many happy years doing the things she loved: attending movies, theater, dance, and musical performances. With her spouse, Jaime, she danced her way through countless ballrooms, clubs, and festivals. She was cherished by a social family that included friends cultivated over a lifetime. In recent years involvement at the Niles Senior Center and Niles Family Fitness Center were essential in her life.

Those of us who knew her well are in awe of her defining characteristics: resilience and equanimity in the face of adversity, generosity, non-judgmental acceptance of others, and a distinct brand of realistic optimism.

She will be eternally missed by all those whose lives she touched.

A celebration of life will be held at a future date. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to chicagolighthouse.org, www.ilholocaustmuseum.org, or the charity of your choice.