Sheila Paul

ST. JOSEPH - Sheila Mary Paul, 59, of rural St. Jospeh died unexpectedly Tuesday, April 23, 2024, at Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana.

A celebration of her extraordinary life will be held on July 22 at the Esquire Lounge in downtown Champaign at 3 p.m.

Sheila is survived by her husband, Phil Bloomer; three stepchildren, Benjamin (Meg), Allison and Conway (Kaitlyn), all of Champaign; and her brother, David and his wife, Christie, of rural St. Joseph.

Sheila was born at Carle Foundation Hopsital, Urbana, in 1964. She moved to Scotland in 1972 with her mother, where she attended Lindsay Academy in Kirkintilloch. She then returned to the U.S. at the age of 15 and graduated from Urbana High School in 1982. She earned a bachelor's degree in agriculture from the University of Illinois and then went on to earn an associate degree in nursing from Parkland College. 

Sheila touched countless numbers of lives in her unique and heartfelt manner of nursing over a 32-year career, mostly in the intensive care unit at Carle Foundation Hospital. She did much the same at her beloved Second Chance Ranch, where she cared for, adopted and fostered horses, cows, pigs, goats, chickens, cats and dogs, and the occasional Monarch butterfly, all of who loved her.

As did her husband, whom she met at the Esquire, where she tended bar while going to nursing school. It is also where they held their wedding reception in 2003 and where Sheila will be remembered with nothing but fondness and love on July 22.