Mary Elizabeth (Mari) Sheehan
March 2, 1943 - June 12, 2025
Mary was born in Brandon in 1943 to Walter Henry and Reubena (Beatrice) Figgures. While young, she moved around Western Canada with her sister and mother, following her Dad who worked for the fur trading branch of the Hudson's Bay Company. Mary's father was transferred to Grande Prairie when she was in junior high, where she met Tom, her future husband, not long after. They went steady until they were married in Grande Prairie in 1962. Their first child, Norman, soon followed, with Mike arrived on the scene in 1965. Not able to have more kids of her own, yet still longing for a daughter, Mary and Tom adopted Jen in 1970. Mom loved animals and brought home Snoopy, a Hienz 57 puppy, in 1970. Mom worked to train him so that he became the best childhood companion ever.
Mary lived in Grande Prairie for over 60 years working as a Nursing Aid at the
Grande Prairie General Hospital, crisis line help operator, counselor for Peace Counseling, coach for Weight Watchers, library assistant at Crystal Park School before finishing her working life with Dad at Bear Creek School, where she worked as a library and IT assistant.
She loved reading where she must have learned the principles of good grammar as she was always helping us speak and write more clearly. Her knowledge of grammar was an immense help to Dad as she proofread and edited many versions of his Masters' thesis. Mom had beautiful penmanship; a skill she worked diligently at in her teens. It was one skill that she was unable to pass on to us kids. She did teach the three of us to drive her manual 1977 Honda Civic, something that we were highly grateful for, but in hindsight must have tried her longstanding patience. Mom was a great cook; her roast beef and Thanksgiving turkey meals will be missed by all who supped at her table. She loved walking in nature, spending many hours traipsing in the dunes south of Grande Prairie and Arizona desert.
After she discovered a better way to endure Cdn winters she and Tom retired in 2001 to become snowbirds in Arizona. While in Florence for almost twenty winters she would bloom like the desert after rain. Down south she enjoyed long walks in the desert and biking around their trailer park, and visiting their many friends. She loved playing cards in the evenings, and more times than not would come out on top against her peers and her kids. She was widely sought after for IT help, assisting many in their Arizona trailer park to get on to Facebook or install new PC software.
Her and Tom moved to Sherwood Park in 2012 to be closer to Jen, Scott, Norman, Heidi, Mike, Susan, and their grandkids. Mary volunteered one day a week at a secondhand charity store in Edmonton, Treats and Treasures, for many years, where she enjoyed the company of her fellow volunteers and giving back to the community. They lived happily together until Tom passed in 2021.
Mom was clever and had no time for BS. She taught us to be honest and clear in our communication and the importance of being good citizens. She had an ability to intuit what was going on, much to our chagrin when we were younger, but later we were thankful as she always had the right words for any situation. Those who knew her may say she was hard to get to know but when you did it was worth the effort as she was generous with her time and help with those that she let in. She met life with compassion and empathy and assisted others that were in need as a good friend.
She was an indefatigable worker and proud that her kids became good people and well-educated citizens, grateful that they lived the values her and Tom worked hard to instill - hard work, conscientious, thoughtful, kindness and compassion. She emphasized that we must always finish the work at hand first and then have fun; a lesson that we still live by. She believed in education and saved money from when her kids were young at a time when Mom and Dad really couldn't afford to as a way of ensuring we would be able to pay university tuition. Knowing our parents sacrificed so much that we could be educated motivated us all to get our degrees.
She will be missed by her family and all that knew her.
Mom would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to Dr. Mark Guhle of Synergy in Sherwood Park for his compassionate care of her and our Dad. We would also like to send special thanks to the Summerwood assisted living staff who made her last year of life as comfortable as possible.
To honour our mother's last wishes, there will be no public service. Please take a moment to think of a special memory of our Mom. She would like this. Rather than buying flowers to honour her life and mark your relationship with her, she would prefer that you donate to a charity of your choice. She generously supported the Alberta Lung Association, Canadian Cancer Society, animal charities, and charities that support children in need. With never-ending love and tremendous sadness,