Sheila Diane Lopach

Sheila Diane O’Loughlin Lopach was born in Vancouver WA in 1954 to Jim O’Loughlin and Patricia Lake O’Loughlin.  Jim and Pat would soon move with their family, Mike, Carl, Laurie and Sheila, to Kalispell, where Sheila graduated from high school in 1972. It was at Flathead County High that Sheila acquired her interest in government and her skill in writing.

When Pat and Jim moved to Helena in 1972, Sheila went along and found herself working for Montana state government.  Although she would often regret not attending college, she was a dedicated and hard-working state employee for a good part of her life. An attractive, fun-loving young woman who loved to party, Sheila rarely wanted for company.  

Sheila was quickly able to combine her love for Democratic politics with her gift for dealing with people.  Throughout her work life, she combined excellent customer service skills with a strong sense of loyalty to her employer.  She worked for OPI and the Montana Attorney General, but in 1978 jumped at the chance to work in DC for newly-elected US Senator Max Baucus.  She loved working for the Senator, becoming his scheduling assistant and his first point of contact for people requesting meetings with him.  After organizing the Senator’s 40th birthday party, she returned to Helena in late 1981. There she met Dennis Lopach, a somewhat serious but fun-loving lawyer, and decided he was the one.  They married in November, 1982.

Sheila worked for the Montana Legislature before her two kids were born, Laura in 1987 and Patrick in 1991.  She loved being a mom.  

In 1992, Sheila put her heart and soul into Dorothy Bradley’s campaign to be Montana’s first woman Governor.  When that didn’t work out, she convinced Dennis to take a job in Denver.  That move, plus a move to Atlanta in 1996, proved to be loaded with enduring family memories of fun, especially well-planned beach and theme park vacations.  She made dozens of new friends and played lots of tennis. Sheila thrived as Patrick’s class mom.  She mastered Atlanta traffic and drove SUV-loads of kids to school activities, swim and tennis meets. She was very proud of her ability to parallel park her Suburban, something her husband was too wise to attempt.

The family moved back to Helena in 2001.  Sheila enjoyed time with her old friends, helping with school activities, and spending time with her siblings.  Sheila was particularly close to her mother and shared caregiving responsibilities as Pat grew older and needed help.  In 2004, she returned to full time employment.  After working for the Division of Criminal Investigation in the AG’s Office, she moved to the Department of Public Health and Human Services.  As Executive Assistant to the Director, she took calls from a wide variety of people and organizations seeking meetings with the Director.  She answered calls from the hundreds of employees and  from (mostly unhappy) constituents. She assisted with the biennial Legislature, lending her familiarity with the process and her keen insights about people and politics at a time when the Legislature was still fun.

Sheila retired from the State in 2018.  She was very shortly diagnosed with Frontotemporal Dementia, a very harsh diagnosis for a relatively young and dynamic woman who was looking forward to retirement.  She responded by becoming a committed walker and spent hours running up the daily totals on her Fitbit.

Sheila and Dennis moved to Missoula in 2019.  They loved Missoula’s weather and its seemingly endless outdoor trails.  A committed Griz football fan since the family returned from Georgia, she enjoyed home games, tailgates and broadcasts.

Most of all, Sheila enjoyed being with her family.  She took special pride in Laura’s academic success and her career.  She passed on to Patrick a love of roller coasters.  When he was five, she stuffed his shoes so he could reach the height bar at Six Flags Over Georgia.  The two of them twice traveled to Cedar Point in Ohio to ride state of the art roller coasters.  Through trips to Disneyland, Sea World, Disney World and Universal Studios, she was always the organizer and the most enthusiastic participant.  But she also loved beach vacations.  Probably her favorite was Maui to celebrate her 50th birthday.  But she loved Destin, Hilton Head, Ponte Vedre, Naples FL and many, many more parts of the Southeast.

Sheila was a fifth generation Montanan.  Her great great grandfather, Cornelius Hedges, was the second lawyer in Helena and the architect of the Montana public school system. A member of the 1870 Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition, Hedges is believed by many to be the first person to suggest making Yellowstone a national park. 

Sheila was a lot of fun.  She loved family, people and new experiences.  And she enjoyed taking care of people.  She was smart, funny and irreverent. 

We’re all going to miss her more than words can really capture.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests charitable contributions in memory of Sheila Lopach be made to the Brain Support Network, PO Box 7264, Menlo Park, CA   94026.  www.brainsupportnetwork.org.