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By Matthew Lau
Cloverdale parishioner Sheelah Alice Rudman died peacefully in her sleep on 10 March 2020 at the age of 105.
Born Sheelah Taylor on 19 April 1914, Mrs Rudman will be remembered as the loyal wife of Arthur (deceased), much loved mother to Barbara, and very special mother-in-law to Bruce.
Last Sunday, 19 April, would have marked her 106th birthday. The Cloverdale Parish community had planned to celebrate the occasion after the regular Sunday morning Mass, long before Coronavirus social distancing measures were put in place.
The Requiem Mass for Sheelah, who lived in Lathlain, was held in Notre Dame Catholic Church, Cloverdale Parish, on the morning of Friday 20 March.
In her eulogy, Barbara described her mother as “energetic, confident, head-strong, ambitious, adventurous, dynamic, and very determined”.
“She had a wonderful, healthy, happy and holy life. God bless, mum – you are a treasure and so unique,” Barbara expressed.
Cloverdale Parish Priest Father Michael Quynh Do said he had adopted Sheelah as a “mother figure” of his own in Perth, since his family all live in Vietnam.
“She is now celebrating her eternal birthday with the Lord,” Fr Quynh said in his homily on 20 March.
“The time for Sheelah’s departure has come; she had fought the good fight. If anyone ever believed in Jesus, and followed him lovingly, it was our Sheelah, I must say.
“I looked forward to seeing Sheelah every Sunday. For Sheelah, when she saw me she would say: ‘You make my day’.”
Known for her devout faith and volunteer work in her local neighbourhood, Sheelah had featured in The Record several times – including the front cover of the 14th issue of The Record magazine in September 2018.
Sheelah Rudman was a battler. She overcame infantile paralysis at the age of 7, escaped the bombing of Darwin merely days before the blast, gave birth to a healthy baby after being told she would never be able to conceive, and has lived on strong as a widower for the past 38 years.
What got her through it all is her undeniable faith in the ubiquitous Lord.
Sheelah married the love of her life, Arthur, at St Mary’s Cathedral on 16 December 1939.
Their only child, Barbara, followed suit 75 years later, marrying Bruce Walther in the same holy venue on 29 January 2014.
The celebrant that day, Monsignor Michael Keating, had his fair share of memories with Sheelah during his time as Cathedral Dean when the family treated St Mary’s as their home parish.
She once told Mgr Keating: “There is nothing in the world like the Catholic faith”.
The Rudman family lived on Wellington St in the city up until 1970 when they moved to the suburb of Lathlain. They continued attending Mass each week at the Cathedral – that was until a certain priest made quite the impression on Sheelah.
On 1 August 2016, Fr Quynh moved from the Cathedral to become Cloverdale Parish Priest. The Rudmans soon followed.
Fr Quynh, ever so touched by their loyalty to him, promised to put on a special morning tea for Sheelah’s 104th birthday.
“I felt so blessed to have the Rudmans back at Cloverdale, and very privileged and honoured to put on two special morning teas for Sheelah’s 104th and 105th birthdays,” Fr Quynh recalled of Sheelah’s latter years.
“It is sad to see Sheelah leave us, but this sadness cannot be the final word for us as Christians. As Christians, we know that there is a life after this one. One where the sorrows and pains of this present Earth will finally be healed once and for all.
“There is someone up there who loves us, who does what is best for us, calling us all eventually to spend eternity with Him,” he continued.
“Death is only a door to new life, to a better life.”
As former The Record journalist Mark Reidy observed after interviewing Sheelah in 2015: “There is no-one in the world quite like Sheelah Alice Rudman”.