Sheila Fortuine

Wasilla resident Sheila (née Calder) Fortuine, 78, died March 11, 2012.

Born Aug. 11, 1933, in Montreal, Canada, she graduated from the Royal Victoria Hospital School of Nursing in 1955. After marriage to Dr. Robert Fortuine in 1960, she lived successively in Belcourt, N.D., Kanakanak, Bethel, Newton Highlands, Mass., Wheaton, Md., Tulsa, Okla., Fort Defiance, Ariz., Anchorage and Geneva, Switzerland.

Sheila enrolled in the nursing program at the University of Alaska Anchorage and graduated cum laude in 1984 with a bachelor’s of science in nursing. In 1985, she returned to nursing at the Alaska Native Medical Center, where she was twice certified as an oncology nurse specialist before retiring from ANMC in 2000.

Sheila enjoyed such activities as gardening, reading and lakeside walking, but her greatest sources of joy were her family, and her Christian community and various ministries, which reflected her deep love of God and people.

Preceded in death by her parents, Thomas and Annie Calder, and her husband Robert, she is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Willa and Kevin Ryan of Shaver Lake, Calif.; son and daughter-in-law, Alex and Rebecca Fortuine of Milwaukie, Ore.; son and daughter-in-law, Rev. Andrew and Heather Fortuine of La Crescent, Minn.; grandsons: Liam Ryan, Brendan Ryan, Sean Ryan, Kieron Ryan, Aidan Ryan, Patrick Ryan and Elliot Fortuine; granddaughters: Clare Ryan, Kathryn Fortuine and Anna Fortuine; and sister and brother-in-law, Nancy and Walter Mingie of Napean, Ontario.

A memorial service is at 11 a.m., March 18 at Mat-Su Evangelical Covenant Church, Wasilla. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Evangelical Covenant Church of Alaska (ECCAK), P.O. Box 770749, Eagle River, AK 99577, or to the building fund of Mat-Su Evangelical Covenant Church, 5201 Mayflower Lane, Wasilla, AK 99654.

“Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ,” 1 Corinthians 15:57.

Burial will be in Palmer Pioneer Cemetery.