JOHNSTON, Iowa — Sister Joan Sheil, CHM, 90, died Dec. 24 at Bishop Drumm Retirement Center.
Margaret Joan Sheil, born July 28, 1934 in Des Moines to John Clement and Bernice (Moore) Sheil, grew up in Mount Ayr, Iowa. She entered the Congregation of the Humility of Mary (CHM) in 1955 and professed vows in 1958 as Sister Michael Maureen.
Sister Sheil was a lifelong learner dedicated to libraries and scholarships. She earned a BA degree in library science with a minor in English from Marycrest College-Davenport and a master’s degree in library science from the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis. She also completed continuing education studies on instructional media and system design with Michigan State University Advanced Media Institute and workshops through the University of Iowa.
Sister Sheil served Marycrest College/Marycrest-Teikyo University/Marycrest International University-Davenport for 43 years, beginning in 1956 as a library student worker, then in 1958 as assistant librarian and cataloger. She directed Marycrest’s media center and closed circuit television (1965-1972), served as vice president of student affairs (1968-1970), chaired the Department of Education, Library Science and Psychology (1982-1985), served as faculty athletic representative starting in 1980 and as director of library services (1972-1999). She had 19 committee appointments (1991-1998) and enjoyed softball, tennis and camping.
After retiring from Marycrest, she served as a staff assistant at the Humility of Mary Center in Davenport for two years and as CHM archivist from 2001-2017. Since 2017, she exercised a ministry of prayer and witness at the Bishop Drumm Retirement Center.
Sister Sheil was an advocate for embracing new technology, encouraging early adoption of computers in the Marycrest library and working among the first librarians to link their collections online in the Quad Cities area. She had chaired the Bi-State Academic Libraries agency and the Iowa Private Academic Libraries (IPAL), and worked for the Quad-Cities Libraries in Cooperation (QuadLINC). She served on the State of Iowa’s long range planning committee and was a delegate to the Iowa pre-White House conference on libraries. She was a member of the Catholic Library Association, serving as a convention speaker in 1968.
She published on incorporating media into higher education and research, provided in-service workshops on libraries and media, served as a panelist for regional and national library and audiovisual meetings and was an evaluator for high school libraries through the North Central Association.
Visitation was Dec. 28 at Our Lady of Peace Chapel in Johnston and Dec. 30 at Humility of Mary Center where her funeral Mass was celebrated the following day. Burial was in Mount Calvary Cemetery-Davenport.
Memorials may be made to the Congregation of the Humility of Mary.
