Obituary: Sheila Ann Foster Israel, 78, Former Westport Teacher

The following obituary of Westport resident Sheila Ann Foster Israel, 78,is from Abraham L. Green and Son Funeral Home:

Sheila Ann Foster Israel, 78, of Westport, CT, and Boca Raton, FL, on March 31, 2020.

Beloved wife of Stephen Israel, loving mother of Ellen Israel and her husband Mark Bieler and Laurie Israel and her husband Daniel Pitchenik. Adoring and adored grandmother of Sam, Adam, Margot, Oliver, and Eliot. Devoted sister to Barbara Ganick and her husband John, of blessed memory. Loving aunt and great aunt to 20 nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews.

Sheila grew up in Willimantic, CT, where she and her identical sister Barbara were a source of joy and consternation to their parents, Mae and Mac Foster. Known collectively as the Foster twins--a designation that followed them into adulthood--Sheila and Barbara were both inseparable and, to all but the most astute observer, indistinguishable, a fact they used to their advantage, mostly successfully, at Windham High School, from which they graduated in 1959. Sheila was a natural athlete, and she and Barbara anchored the school’s cheerleading squad, as well as giving an added literalism to the synchronized swim team’s routines. Sheila worked as a lifeguard at Lauter Park Waterfront, and she could still execute a perfect jackknife dive well into her sixties. It was in her arms that all of her grandchildren took their first dip in the pool in the backyard of 16 Colony Road, where she and Steve lived for nearly 30 years.

Sheila graduated from Lesley College in 1963 with a degree in education, and she began her career as a kindergarten teacher at Willimantic Elementary School. After stints in Hanover, NH, where she and Steve lived in the quonset huts set aside for married graduate students, they lived in Silver Spring and Rockville, MD, where their daughters were born, Stamford, CT, Paris, France, and Endwell, NY, the family moved to Westport, where Sheila earned her master’s degree in special education and joined the team at Coleytown Middle School (of blessed memory). In the days before special education students were mainstreamed, Sheila and her colleagues, who were also her best friends, presided over their wing of the school with the same mixture of joy and consternation that marked her and her sister’s childhood. She wrote lesson plans, taught her students life skills, and believed in the importance of her work. She filled her classroom with laughter, love, and magic, and her students gave those back to her in equal measure.

Sheila was an amazing cook, a spectacular baker, a swimmer, a skier, a tennis player, and a tournament-winning golfer. She was a stylish dresser, a superior Loehman’s shopper, a hunter of bargains, and a custodian of closets full of beautiful clothes and jewelry. She was an aerobics aficionado and a great dancer, a lover of parties of all kinds and a gracious hostess. She was a cool mom and a devoted wife. Sheila was funny and kind and enthusiastic about everything. She laughed easily and often. She made and kept friends from all of the stages of her life, from all over the world. She was full of energy and life. And that is how she will be remembered.

Funeral services and memorial observances will be held privately.

In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association (alz.org/donate), 225 N. Michigan Ave., Floor 17, Chicago, IL 60601. For more information, to share an online condolence, and find instructions on how to join the remote attendance live stream, please visit www.greensfuneralhome.com.