Sheila Cain

Sheila Cain

September 21, 2025

Sheila Mae Cain, of Rapid City, S.D., died peacefully in her sleep at Monument Hospice House on September 21, 2025, from Alzheimer's disease. Husband Doug was with her.

Sheila was born in Selby, S.D., March 26, 1950, to Paul and Stella Smith. Sheila spent her formative years in Selby, a small town in rural South Dakota where her parents owned Smith's Red Barn, the town's butcher shop. She had fond memories of drive-in movies, working for the local diner and attending a small school where everyone knew everyone.

As one of four siblings, she was very close with each of them. Her sister, Debbie, remained her most trusted and dependable friend for the duration of her life. While they never lived out their Thelma and Louise fantasy (minus the end scene), they did share many adventures and were the epitome of sisterly love.

After high school, Sheila, a single mom to David John, moved to Aberdeen, S.D., to attend business school. Sheila worked in Aberdeen for a couple of years before she and David moved to Rapid City, S.D., in 1972 to share rent with sister Debbie. Sheila's first job in Rapid City was in the business office at the South Dakota School of Mines. While at SDSM&T, Sheila met her future husband Doug, who was working for the Atmospheric Sciences Group at SDSM&T. Sheila and Doug were married July 5, 1975, in Selby S.D. Sheila crocheted her own wedding dress for the occasion.

Sheila and Doug took Dave on many camping trips, often in the Badlands. This was the beginning of a lifelong love affair with the great outdoors. Spending time on hiking trails, around campfires and surrounded by some of the best people resulted in a habit of connecting with nature.

In 1977, Sheila chose to stay at home with daughter, Amber, shortly after Amber called the babysitter "mom." She was fiercely protective of her only daughter (perhaps too protective at times). She raised her daughter to be a strong, independent thinker and to never doubt the things that she could accomplish. This may have started by reading the entire "Charlie Brown 'Cyclopedia: Super Questions and Answers and Amazing Facts" and no doubt sparked Amber's interest in science. Early on, she served as room mom and would make homemade treats, come up with the coolest ideas for room parties, and was always there to document the moments. Many of these notorious photos live on in carefully curated scrapbooks. Passing down a tradition from her own mother, Sheila would make a special shaped cake every year for birthdays; a clown and a swan were always favorites. Eventually, this tradition became a simple carrot cake with the best cream cheese frosting, which she made from scratch each year for both of her kids, until it was revealed that only Amber really liked the carrot cake. (Sorry Dave!)

Eventually, Sheila returned to the workforce and worked for Hubbard Milling Company for several years. She had coworkers that she maintained friendships with for many years. Sheila finally landed her dream job as lab manager for the USD/SDSU Nursing programs and worked there for about 14 years until her retirement in 2006. During her time there she mentored students, supported faculty, and, again, made lifelong friends. She was so dedicated to this job; preparing batches of fake blood, dressing up the training mannequins, and playing practical jokes on both faculty and staff alike, that she was lovingly referred to as the "Lab Queen." She loved that job and was sad to leave it, but doing so gave her more time to spend with friends and her growing family. Several of her nurses at Monument Hospice House were her former students.

Doug and Sheila moved to Calgary, AB, Canada in 2008 for Doug's new job but they maintained their home in Rapid City. Between 2008 and 2018 Sheila split her time between Calgary, Rapid City, Selby and Myrtle Beach. She was a road trip warrior putting 200,000 miles on her Honda Pilot.

She was passionate about nature, and she instilled this love in her daughter, with whom, along with Doug, she spent countless hours camping, hiking, picnicking, swimming, wading, and picking berries in the beautiful Black Hills. Nearly every weekend, the Cain family could be found in their green Volkswagen camper van lovingly referred to as "The Pickle Bus" by some friends. Probably because of a deeply felt jealousy over the awesomeness of that van and the adventures that were experienced because of it. The bus was always fully stocked and ready for the next expedition.

There were tens of thousands of miles clocked in the bus, driving all over the country (and Canada) to see state parks, national parks and monuments, and reveling in family time. Sheila also turned that Volkswagen into a team bus, shuttling Amber and her friends to sleep-away camps, ballet competitions and whatever other activities were desired. Doug says the VW will live on for the grand-kids to enjoy.

One of Sheila's fondest memories was joining Amber and her husband, Kevin, and kids on an epic 11 state road trip in 2017. They visited numerous national parks and monuments, drove on Route 66, visited the Oklahoma City bombing memorial and stopped at Central High in Little Rock, Ark. Years later she would still say it was one of her favorite experiences ever.

Sheila was a social butterfly. When her kids were quite young, she played in a bowling league and for many years she was an avid golfer and a longtime member of Meadowbrook Golf Course. She had many golfing buddies, but played often with SNAP, which was an acronym for the ladies in her foursome. Many weekends were spent walking the Meadowbrook course with Amber in tow.

When golfing got expensive, Sheila put down the golf clubs and put on some sturdy hiking boots and started a love affair with Black Hills hiking trails. She did hike with friends, but mostly enjoyed hiking by herself, much to the dismay of her daughter in later years. She spent much of her time hiking in the woods after retirement in 2006. Hiking was definitely her spiritual get away. She adored many different hiking trails in the Black Hills; her favorites included Black Elk Peak, Little Devil's Tower and Sunday Gulch. She spoke about finding peace and comfort while surrounded by nature and often referred to nature as her "church." The move to Calgary introduced new hiking opportunities. She frequently hiked in Banff, Canmore and Calgary's Nose Hill Park.

She loved playing games with friends and family, mostly she liked beating everyone in cribbage. There were countless nights camping in the Volkswagen van teaching her kids to play cribbage (aka counting and luck). While the rules say if you miss counting points, your opponent can steal them…but she never did. She always recounted her experience playing in the state cribbage championship, although there may not be any witnesses to confirm this.

She had a deeply committed relationship with her friends. She shaped those relationships over many decades. She worked summers at Powder House Lodge with many of them and spent many a get-away with them in various locations, laughing and commiserating over wine and silly stories. This is evidenced by the many framed photos in her home of her beside her friends. We would each be so lucky to have as many multi-decade, close-knit friends as she had. If we are measured only by the friendships we keep, she was truly rich beyond compare.

She had an infectious laugh and a mischievous sense of humor. You could often hear her and her siblings or children lovingly teasing each other, especially while playing games. Sometimes you could catch her giving you a little smirk when she knew she'd landed a jab.

Sheila would have given the shirt off her back to help someone in need. She was strongly progressive in her beliefs and supported women's rights, was a LGBTQ+ ally and environmental advocate. If you got her started, she would recall the Civil Rights Movement in the 60s and lament the slow march toward social equality. She did not fear standing in protest for the causes she believed in. She spent many years as a vegetarian/vegan in opposition to animal cruelty and environmental impacts by the food industry.

She was genuinely selfless, dropping what she was doing without hesitation to show up to help friends move, redecorate, or any project they were working on. She spent months of time away from her home helping Amber and Kevin with their kids, helping her sister during cancer treatments and her mother during the final years of her life.

Sheila was many other things beyond the above. She was an amateur bird watcher, gardener, genealogist, cook (best lasagna and apple dumplings!), crocheting many baby blankets, and singer of Patsy Cline and Nancy Sinatra songs. She was always up for karaoke.

Sheila is survived by her husband, Doug; her son, David John, of Selby, S.D.; and her daughter, Amber McWilliams (Kevin), of Myrtle Beach, S.C.; siblings, Clyde Smith (Jan, d. 2015), of Royal City, Wash., Debbie Berens (Scott Schilling), of Selby, and Randy Smith (Deb), of Sioux Falls, S.D.; grandkids, Kade Cain, Kirksville, Mo., Kayla Hahne, Paul "PJ" Smith, Bradi Stahlman (Brett), and Isabella Smith, all of Selby, Stella McWilliams and Ryker McWilliams, Myrtle Beach, S.C.; and seven great-grandkids.

A celebration of Sheila's life will be held in the spring of 2026 at a date to be determined.

In Lieu of flowers, contributions in Sheila's honor to Alzheimer research (https://www.alz.org/research), South Dakota Public Broadcasting (https://sdpbfriends.org) or the Lake Hiddenwood SD Foundation (https://www.facebook.com/thefutureofthepark/) are appreciated.

Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home

2700 Jackson Blvd., Rapid City, SD 57702

www.osheimschmidt.com

605-343-0077