Sheila was born in Stockport in the UK on 15 April 1935 to Robert and Clare Hodge, and lived there along with her younger sister Diana in the suburb of Heaton Mersey.
She started school at St Winifred’s Convent, followed by the local Catholic High School, and then went on to Manchester High School.
Sheila joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service (the WRNS) at the age of 19, and also played squash, tennis, she also skied, sailed and enjoyed rifle shooting. She started her career as a radar plotter, was based at Portsmouth, Plymouth, and Haverford West in West Wales. She rose upwards in the naval hierarchy, and specialised in photographic interpretation of aerial photos – which was an area of work that she loved, and did a 3-year tour at Brampton base in East Anglia. She went on to the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, where she became a commissioned officer in the WRNS.
Sheila then went to Singapore for a posting in early 1963, working as a photographic interpreter. She met David Middleton, an Australian Air Force officer in Singapore, and they married in 1964 after which she then moved to Australia with David. Sheila and David continued to move a few times with Air Force postings (Ipswich in Queensland, Honolulu in Hawaii, Richmond in NSW, and Canberra in the ACT) and had 4 children, before settling in Canberra in 1976.
Sheila then joined the Commonwealth public service, working in the Land Titles Office, whilst completing a Bachelor of Applied Science in Applied Geography in 1987.
Sheila had many and varied interests – including gardening, genealogy, bridge, antiques and collectables, golf and lawn bowls, horse racing, painting, photography, travel, wine appreciation, going to the theatre and to musicals, and going on cruises – she and David took more than 30 cruises together. She enjoyed sharing time with her children and grandchildren.
Sheila was always cheerful and smiling, and kind and caring of her family and friends. She is very sadly missed.