Pansy Sheek

Pansy Irene Barrett was born Oct. 5, 1930, in Earth, TX, to James Everett and Ona Reed Barrett. She was their only child, as Ona was killed when Irene was only eight months old.

Barrett remarried and had three more daughters: Betty Rose, Billie Joan, and Nellie Pauline. They all preceded their half-sister in death.

Barrett eventually divorced his second wife, Marie Brogden, and married Mattie Curl, the woman Irene and her children knew as “Grandma Mattie.”

Barrett continued to farm in West Texas, until he lost his place in the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s. Irene told stories how the girls would eat, or sleep, under wet sheets to keep out the blowing dirt.

The sisters went to school in Muleshoe, TX, while their father found what work he could. He eventually followed other family and moved everyone to Colorado, settling in Mancos. Irene was an eighth-grader, and she graduated from Mancos High School in the spring of 1949.

As a teenager, Irene sang in school musicals and worked at the movie theater. She cleaned houses for several elderly residents and worked as a switchboard operator for the telephone company. One of her best friends was Mabel Sheek.

Irene was planning to attend business school in Denver when she met “the love of her life” and one of Mabel’s cousins, James Clyde Sheek. They were married Nov. 18, 1949, at her father’s house in Mancos. They had been married 65 years when he passed away, July 13, 2015, in Cortez.

The young couple moved into the former George Menefee home on Echo Basin Road, east of Mancos, and began their family. To them were born Diana Dee, Wesley Everett, and Gary Clyde Sheek.

Clyde and Irene were ranching partners with his parents, Lee Wesley and Hilda “Dee” Sheek. Together, they “ran cows” on the La Plata Mountains. Each fall, they gathered the cows, sold the calves, and drove the remaining herd “down the river,” to the winter ranch along Mesa Verde National Park. In the spring, they drove the cows back to the mountains where the calves were branded and the whole bunch “turned out” on the forest. Summers were spent raising vegetables for family and hay for the cows.

Irene Sheek sewed dresses and shirts for her children, cooked dinner for “hay hands” – who were always welcome at the kitchen table – canned garden produce, and raked hay for Clyde to bale.

She could “double-clutch” the truck and haul calves to the sale barn, backing the Dodge up to the chute and spurning would-be male helpers.

As a skilled seamstress, Mrs. Sheek had followed her mother, who also loved sewing. Irene took sewing and tailoring classes and shared those skills with many 4-H girls. She made initiation robes for Chapter BD, P.E.O., and sewed numerous Cowbelles and Mancos Days queens quilt blocks. In 2001, Mrs. Sheek was chosen as the Pioneer Queen for Mancos Days and received her own block on the queens’ quilt.

Mrs. Sheek was a hard-working volunteer in Mancos schools and a leader in many area organizations, including the P.T.A., MHS Boosters, 4-H, Cowbelles, the V.F.W. Auxiliary, Study Club, Home Demonstration Club, Rainbow Girls, TOPS Club, several square dance clubs, P.E.O., and the First Baptist Church. Her pecan pies for potluck suppers and singing “specials” for church were legendary.

When her children all had left home, Irene took up acrylic painting and developed skills which won critical approval in Mancos and Bouse, AZ, where she and Clyde began spending the winters.

Mrs. Sheek is survived by her children, Diana Greer (Steve), Wes Sheek (Cheryl), and Gary Sheek (Natalie Greer); by eight grandchildren, Deborah Greer Lundquist (Chris), Andrew Greer, Lee Sheek (Stephanie), Cody Sheek, Jeremy Sheek, Colt Sheek (Claire), Kathryn Sheek Grice (Jason), and Alexis Sheek; by seven great-grandchildren, Trent (Greer) Suppes, Danielle Sheek, Cade Sheek, Chase Sheek, Liberty Sheek, Talon Sheek, and Conner Grice; and by a multitude of admiring friends.

A service will be held at First Baptist Church of Mancos on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 10:30 a.m., with burial to follow services at the family cemetery.