Sheila B. Littlejohn

Sheila B. Littlejohn Born in Croydon, Surrey, England on June 21, 1930, Sheila Hageman Littlejohn died at her home in Kensington, California on September 4, 2009. Educated at James Allen's Girls' School in southeast London, she worked as an editorial secretary for London newspapers, before moving to the United States (while remaining a loyal British subject) in 1959. She was working as secretary to the Senior Tutor of John Winthrop House at Harvard University when she met David Littlejohn, then a graduate student in English and a resident tutor at Winthrop House. They were married in Harvard's Memorial Church on June 10, 1963, six weeks after their first date. When David was offered a position at the University of California in Berkeley, they moved first to Berkeley, then just north to Kensington, where they lived in the same house on Coventry Road for 42 years. Their daughter Victoria was born in 1965, their son Gregory in 1967. Victoria now lives with her two children, Isabella and Liliana, in Burbank, Calif. Gregory, his wife Meagan, and their daughter Chase live in Nevada City. Both children, as well as Meagan and Chase, Sheila's wonderful caregiver Vasati Vaoleti, and a great many good friends helped see Sheila through her final days. Thanks to sabbatical leaves, fellowships, grants, and long vacations, David and Sheila were able to spend whole years with their children in England and France, and traveled for many months in Italy and other western European countries, whenever possible crossing the Atlantic by ship. In 1986, they spent four months driving about favorite places in Europe on what they called "Te Last Grand Tour." On a later trip, Sheila--an accomplished photographer--took hundreds of photographs of stately homes, fifty of which were used in David's book "The Fate of the English Country House" of 1997. After studying photography with Gerda Mathan in Berkeley, Sheila concentrated on intimate landscapes and historic buildings, and had several exhibitions. Other favorite occupations were fine cooking (she worked her way from Julia Child through Jamie Oliver), giving great parties, and maintaining her handsome garden. Her husband's work as a critic meant that they saw hundreds of plays and operas, as well as concerts, ballets and art exhibitions, and made many friends in the world of the arts, a world she greatly enjoyed. She played tennis on the Berkeley courts, and worked for several years as a volunteer for the hospice and bereavement programs at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley. Her greatest pleasures were her own children and grandchildren, her house and garden, giving and attending good parties, and her great many dear friends. There will be no funeral or memorial service; instead, a party in celebration of Sheila's wonderful life, to which these dear friends will be invited.