Sheila Dobson

Sheila Joan Marion Dobson (maiden name Spence) born May 24th, 1929 in London, England passed away peacefully May 6, 2020 in Citrus Heights, California after a short illness, surrounded by her loved ones. Sheila was preceded in death by her husband, Colonel Robert T. Dobson who passed away on Aug 10, 2019. Sheila lived an extraordinary life, having grown up with her three brothers John, Don and Reg in England during WWII, where she had vivid memories of German fighters in the English skies during the Blitz. Being a young woman of 19, she traveled with a female friend to Australia in the effort to secure a home for her family, who remained in England during that time, before following her. She worked at the External Affairs Dept. in Canberra before transferring to Sydney to find a home. The family would remain in Australia and generations of the Spence family reside there today. Sheila was revered by the Spence families as the matriarch who had started it all! During the Korean War, she was posted to the Australian Embassy at the UN, where she would go on a chance blind date with a young American Air Force pilot named Bob Dobson. The two would soon become geographically separated by their careers, with Sheila becoming a stewardess for United Airlines, and Bob continuing his career with the U.S. Air Force. Regardless of these circumstances, they married in July 1958 and raised two sons and two daughters; Robert Jr. (Rob), Marian (Missy), Michael and Jill, while crisscrossing the world as the wife of an Air Force Officer. When Bob shipped out to Vietnam, Shelia took over the dual-role as caregiver of four small children, settling back in Australia to be close to her family, and communicating with Bob via an old reel-to-reel tape machine. The Dobson family final stop was in 1975 at McClellan AFB in Sacramento, California where Bob retired from the Air Force after a 34-year military career. Not one to let moss grow under her feet, Sheila had a long year career with the Pacific Bell Telephone Company (now ATT) as an Executive Assistant for the company's top executives. After her retirement, she volunteered with the Sacramento Sheriff's Department. Sheila and Bob were married for 61 years, raising four children and five grandchildren. One thing is for certain, once Mom gets to Heaven, she is certain to be telling Dad to turn the TV down!