Sheila Hague

Sheila Marie Hague, 75, of Denver, died Friday, July 19th.
She was born to James and Margaret Peg O'Neill of Forest Hills, New York, on August 9th, 1937. Sheila graduated Jamaica High School in 1955 and soon followed her sister Maureen to Denver on the advice of doctors. Sheila experienced lifelong struggles with rheumatism. Despite constant discomfort, she dealt with the matter with general good humor and sardonic equanimity.
In 1957 she married Albert Clayton Hague, a Denver Police Officer who would accrue 25 years on the force and go on to work as a bailiff in the Federal Courts. Though their marriage underwent numerous challenges, financial reversals, and personal tragedies, throughout both remained intent on providing for their family. This often meant going without so that the children would be provided for. Albert passed away on May 25, 1995 following a battle with liver cancer. Sheila and Albert were the parents of three surviving children. The eldest, Patrick Kelleher Pat, born in February of 1964, currently resides in Scottsdale, Arizona. Their son Brian Kevin, born August of 1967, lives in Denver. Their daughter Bridget Megan is married and the mother of two boys, Christopher age 22, and Kaiman age 13. Bridget lived with Sheila until the time of her passing and provided care and assistance in her later years. Sheila is also survived by her sister & brother-in-law, Patricia and Charles Semmer, and her brother, Frank O'Neill and his wife, Janet, as well as numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews of varying ages and temperaments.
A smoker since the age of 15 Parliament 100's, Sheila quit cigarettes cold in January of this year, relying upon nicotine patches, drinking straws cut to the proper length, and her own innate stubbornness to see her through. "If a thing is worth doing..." she would say. Sheila loved dogs, her family, reading, Pepsi, beer Schaeffer, if it could be found, her Irish heritage, and the United States of America, the country she felt immensely proud and fortunate in which to have been born and raised. Possibly the Pepsi most of all. Hard to tell. It was her most constant companion... She insisted upon honesty and upright behavior from a world too often incapable of providing it. She nevertheless dealt with the resulting disappointments with as much good humor as could be mustered given the circumstances. Today's standards of entertainment were, of course, not the standards she grew up with, and not what she thought appropriate for public presentation. She readily admitted to being somewhat old-fashioned in this regard, but she did not see this in any way as a bad thing. In a society with standards and epithets dropping all around us, she continued to hold herself with grace, charm, wit, and humor. "If you can't laugh, you might as well go curl up in a corner somewhere."
Despite her lack of patience with four-letter words and the lack of literacy and imagination that puts so many of them in our path these days, she did allow herself the indulgence, twice a year only, of singing along with Tom, John, and Ben in the musical 1776 as they emphatically say in celebration of their new nation, "to Hell with Great Britain." Often she'd rewind it and give it another go or two, always with a smile. She was proudly Irish, after all. In late May of this year, with the condition of her legs and feet worsening, Sheila decided to undergo surgery to open arteries that had become blocked. The operation did not go well and she spent weeks in and out of Intensive Care. Although there were often hopeful signs, her overall health declined, leading to her passing just past midnight on the 19th of July. The suffering she endured during this time was terribly unjust. The sense of loss is beyond measure. She is greatly missed.
Services will be held on Saturday, August 3rd at 1:00pm at Horan & McConaty located at 3020 Federal Boulevard Federal & Speer. A reception will be held afterwards at the home of Paula Tibbs, 12908 Hudson Ct. near 128th & Colorado Blvd. in Thornton.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that, if convenient, donations be made to the Denver Dumb Friends League. Do not go to any trouble.