Sheila Gail (Sweaney) Belts, born on July 9, 1951 in Richmond, Calif., passed away on December 12, 2019, surrounded by her children and grandchildren.

Sheila was raised in Eureka by her mother, Iris Juanita Morgan and her father, Maxwell Sweaney. She attended Winship Junior High School, where she was a songleader and went on to be a Loggerette at Eureka Senior High School, from which she graduated in 1969.

Sheila made many close friends in school that she kept in touch with over the years, among them Connie Saunderson Thatcher and Claudia Kearse Vanwinkle. These ladies will miss her greatly, as they have many fond memories of Sheila water skiiing with her and her parents at Trinity Lake during the summers and picking crab after school in Fields Landing during commercial crab season. She was thrilled to have been able to attend her 50-year class reunion in September with her childhood girlfriends, and we have so enjoyed hearing all the funny and touching memories that have been shared with us about Sheila’s teenage and young adult shenanigans growing up in Northern California in the ’60’s and ’70’s.

Sheila worked as a bookkeeper for Angelo’s Pizza from 1982 to 1984. She then helped run Larry Thomas Distributors with her husband, Doug Belts. After this, she attended Fredrick and Charles beauty college and became a nail technician in the early ’90s. She made many longtime friends in the beauty industry while working at Our Hands, N-Style, Indulgence, the Beauty Stop and Berolina in Eureka; among them, Diana Sampson and Brenda Nevers.

She will be remembered as a fierce and loving momma bear, a strong and independent women and role model to her children, and above all the most loyal and loving grandmother to her six grandchildren, of whom she was so very proud.

Sheila is predeceased by her husband of 35 years, Douglas Belts, who passed away on December 1, 2018.

She is survived by her children, Sarah Patterson (Kevin Knauff), Kevin Patterson, and Kelli (Kyle) Sample; her grandchildren, Parker Duncan, Bailey Sample, Takeshi Patterson, Kian Knauff, Alexis Sample and Emelia Gail Sample. She is also survived by her sister and best friend, Charlene Sweaney Jackson, her brothers Tandy (Jean) Sweaney, and Mike (Kandy) Sweaney, cousins Erin Amott, Lisa White, Mark and David Timmerman and the Morgan family of Eureka.

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