Dr. Timothy R. Sheehan

BIOGRAPHY FOR ONLINE OBITUARY Timothy Ray Sheehan June 16, 1944 - April 19, 2010 Timothy Ray Sheehan was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Tim was the youngest of four. His mother, Lucille, and his Uncle Gene raised him and his older siblings--Kathleen, Michael, and Patrick--in a Catholic family setting. Uncle Gene and a family friend, Karl Smith, were great mentors to Tim, teaching him to appreciate great literature and poetry, cars, the game of cribbage, and fly-in fishing on the serene and remote lakes of Wawa, Canada. Most importantly, he learned the values of integrity and faith. In high school, Tim joined the seminary with the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, an order with a teaching vocation. Throughout this spiritual formation, his interest and talents in theology and theatre blossomed. He continued in the seminary through college, acquiring a Bachelor's degree in English at University of Toronto-St. Michael's College, a Master's degree in Theatre from Wayne State University, a Master's degree in Theology from Niagara University, and a credential for Radio Broadcasting from the Columbia School of Broadcasting. By this time, Tim's teaching career was on its way. He taught English and other subjects in a variety of cities, per the Oblates' assignments. He entered the deaconate, but in the mid-1970's, decided to leave seminary life and make the big move to Southern California. To start his new life in Long Beach under the sun, Tim decided to save money by selling his car and buying a motorcycle. That year, the rainfall level hit a record high. In the spring of 1980, Tim and Rose Sammut met through a family connection and started dating. After teaching at a school in Watts for a while, Tim acquired a teaching job at Marymount High School, an all-girls' Catholic high school on Sunset Boulevard. There he was, teaching religion and drama to daughters of Hollywood greats like Peter Falk, Gene Kelly, Jayne Mansfield, and Mickey Hargitay. He was an outstanding theatre director, leading the students to produce musicals and morality plays each year. In June of 1981, Rose's family planned a reunion in Detroit to celebrate her grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary. How handy--this turned out to be Tim and Rose's wedding weekend, too. Back in Los Angeles, Tim and Rose started their family life. Michael Gene was born in 1983. Tim, the almost-perpetual student, earned a Doctorate of Ministry through the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. Thus, he became "Dr. Sheehan," his professional name from then on. The prospect of buying a home caused the couple to look far beyond Los Angeles to more affordable areas. On a friend's recommendation, Tim sought a teaching position at Ursuline High School for girls in Santa Rosa, CA, and landed the job. The new family moved north to Santa Rosa but was still renting. The next year, they bought a home in Petaluma, CA, and Tim transferred to San Domenico High School for girls. Meg was born in 1985. Sheehan family traditions started to appear--building model trains, playing board games, Friday night pizzas, and cutting down fresh Christmas trees. In 1989, the Sheehans moved to San Diego so Tim could begin teaching at the Academy of Our Lady of Peace (OLP), another all-girls high school. As members of Our Lady of Grace parish, the family embarked on a journey of friendships that still continues today. In 1991, Mary Kate was born. Tim started at OLP by teaching religion and public speaking courses, but soon he was the exclusive public speaking teacher to sophomores. In this job, he saw great potential in the students and encouraged them to compete in the county school speech competitions. Because Tim's class was a required course at OLP, he had dozens of students available for these contests. Because he was an excellent speech teacher, the OLP team started bringing home sweepstakes trophies for having the most team points at the competitions. Tim's success with students came from several well-honed techniques. These included hippo moments, "um" and "you know" placards, distracting sound effects, the tripping-with-the-cup-of-water trick, Herschel, and the penny machine. He taught, not only public speaking, but personal confidence. He became one of the dreaded teachers at OLP (an "honor" he enjoyed) and yet was beloved as well. Tim and his OLP speech team continued to win the first-place sweepstakes trophy of the annual San Diego County Novice Speech Tournament for fourteen straight years. His daughters, Meg and Mary Kate, both attended OLP and got to experience his classroom and team success. As education was high on Tim's list of "how to succeed in life," he emphasized college education with his own children and his students. He guided many to earn college scholarships through community-based speaking contests. Tim also emphasized the greatness of Neil Diamond. For the past 20 years, every OLP student has grown to love (or perhaps endure) Neil Diamond's music and lyrics, thanks to Dr. Sheehan. Some years ago, Tim watched a student perform Irish step dancing at a talent show and decided his kids should try this folk art. Lo and behold, both daughters became champion dancers. The Irish dancing circles and Tim's Irish heritage gave him and Rose (who isn't Irish at all) outstanding friendships and the excuse to wear funny green hats to the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Another passion of Tim's was playing racquetball. He joined a small circle of experienced players, and kept a good score for many years. More importantly, he made more good friends. A teacher at home as well as on the job, Tim was extremely proud of Michael's, Meg's, and Mary Kate's successes in school, with extracurricular interests, and as faith-filled young people. In October 2008, Tim's own speaking ability mysteriously failed. He was diagnosed with a glioblastoma multiforme Grade IV brain tumor. With this devastating and shocking cancer diagnosis came a grim prognosis for survival. Tim underwent immediate surgery and radiation treatments. His racquetball buddies escorted him to treatments, and support from friends poured in. Tim missed the rest of the fall semester but had a wonderful recovery and returned to the classroom in January for the spring. However, being a high school teacher to about 50 teenage girls every day is hard work. Tim's condition fatigued him, and he had to stop teaching in about February of 2009. For the rest of 2009, Tim managed his cancer treatments well and enjoyed several family milestones: a fun trip to Philadelphia and New York in April, attending Mary Kate's graduation from OLP and walking in the faculty procession in June, and the ultimate fishing trip to Wawa, Canada in August. After this, his chemotherapy wasn't holding the cancer at bay any longer, and each month brought new challenges. Tim took part in a clinical drug trial at UCLA and tried newly approved treatments to fight increasing weakness and limits to his speaking ability. There were three more trips to the ER, and he rebounded better than expected each time. Even in the last couple months, he wanted to enjoy more of life. He looked forward to family visits, saw a stage play and the OLP Spring Sing, played cribbage, and went to the St. Patrick's Day Parade once more. On April 17, he was admitted to hospital and just couldn't make it home again. Tim passed away peacefully with Rose and all three children at his bedside on April 19, 2010. He was 65. His presence and sense of humor will be missed so much, but we have many touching memories to keep him in our hearts. May he rest in peace. "It's a beautiful noise/Made of joy and of strife/Like a symphony played/By the passing parade/It's the music of life." Neil Diamond, "Beautiful Noise" In lieu of flowers, the Sheehan family suggests donations to one of the following cancer centers, or to a charity of your choosing, in memory of Tim: Cancer Center Oncology Medical Group Memo: "Donation in memory of Timothy Sheehan" Mail checks to: 5555 Grossmont Center Drive La Mesa, CA 91942 ATTN: Susan Rose Donations will be used for treatment resources for patients. The UCLA Foundation - Neuro-Oncology Memo: "Donation in memory of Timothy Sheehan" Mail checks to: Patricia Roderick UCLA Medical Sciences Development 10945 Le Conte Avenue, Suite 3132 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1784 Donations will be used for brain cancer research.