Sigurlang "Ruby" Shiels 1917-1987
Sigurlaug “Ruby” Shiels was born on September 23, 1917, in Selkirk, Manitoba, the fifth of seven children born to George Robert Shiels and Rosa Stefansson.
Ruby never married, but family was always an important part of her life. She remained close to her parents and siblings and eventually became one of the people who helped preserve the stories and memories of this branch of the Shiels family.
Years later, a telephone call from a distant relative she had never met would bring Ruby into another chapter of the family’s history — and begin a friendship neither of them could have expected.
Ruby's Early Years
Ruby grew up as part of the large and close-knit Shiels family created by George and Rosa. Although she was born in Selkirk, the family returned to Saskatchewan while Ruby was still a baby, and much of her childhood was spent surrounded by her brothers and sisters.
Later, the family returned to Manitoba, and Ruby completed high school before taking a stenographer’s course. She began working in Winnipeg, including a period at the old Winnipeg City Hall, and later worked for the Royal Trust Company.
As a young woman, Ruby also spent summers working aboard the S.S. Kenora, one of the large passenger vessels that travelled Lake Winnipeg. It was an unusual job and another glimpse of the independent young woman Ruby had become.
Family remained especially important to her. Ruby never married and continued to live with George and Rosa throughout their lives. After her parents were gone, she shared a home with her sister Jean, with whom she was particularly close.
Caring for Jean
Family was always at the centre of Ruby’s life, and nowhere was that more evident than in her relationship with her sister Jean.
When Jean became seriously ill, Ruby left her employment to care for her. It was a decision that came naturally to Ruby, but it also meant putting her own working life aside at a time when returning to the workforce later would not be easy.
After Jean’s death, Ruby found it difficult to obtain another position. Eventually, while in her late fifties, she began working with the Crippled Children & Adults of Manitoba, where she remained until her retirement.
Ruby had spent much of her life caring about the people around her — her parents, her sister and her wider family. Ruby had spent much of her life caring about the people around her — her parents, her sister and her wider family. But before retirement opened another chapter in Ruby’s life, an unexpected telephone call would introduce her to a part of that wider family she had never known.
A Telephone Call from a Stranger
In the summer of 1980, Dan and Judy Shiels travelled to Ontario while researching the Shiels family. During that trip they discovered the Thomas and George branches of the family and learned enough about Thomas’s descendants to know that part of the family had eventually made its way west.
Back home in Winnipeg, Dan turned to one of the best research tools available at the time — the telephone book.
He began looking through the Winnipeg listings for anyone named Shiels and calling them one at a time. Eventually he came to a simple entry: “Shiels, R.”
Ruby answered the telephone.
Dan explained who he was and that he was researching the Shiels family. When Ruby told him that her parents were George and Rosa and her grandparents were Thomas Prentice and Margaret, Dan immediately knew he had found the family line he had been searching for.
He asked if they could meet, and Ruby invited this complete stranger to her home the following evening for tea.
When Ruby told her co-workers what she had done, they were somewhat less enthusiastic.
“How do you know he isn’t an axe murderer?” they asked.
Ruby wasn’t particularly concerned. She had her little dog to protect her — and besides, she reasoned, he couldn’t be half bad if he was looking up family history!
The little dog wasn’t needed.
Ruby and Dan became instant friends. Over the years that followed, they spent many hours together comparing notes, sharing family stories and piecing together the history of the Shiels family.
Bringing the Family Together
The friendship that began with that unexpected telephone call soon became part of a much larger effort to reconnect the Shiels family.
Dan & Judy Shiels had started planning to connect all the branches of the Shiels family together and they decided to have a Shiels Family Reunion in Winnipeg in the summer of 1982.
Ruby became an important part of those preparations. She helped Dan locate names and addresses for members of her branch of the family, and when the reunion was finally held, more than 100 members of the extended Shiels family attended.
What had begun with research into names, dates and old records was becoming something much more personal — relatives who had never known one another were meeting, sharing stories and discovering their common family history.
Life at “The Beach”
When Ruby retired at the age of 65, she was finally able to spend more time at one of her favourite places — her cabin at Winnipeg Beach, which she affectionately called simply “The Beach.”
Ruby looked forward to retirement as a chance to enjoy some of the things for which working life had left too little time. She wanted to garden and dreamed of painting in oils, imagining herself working away in the garret of her little cottage.
And, of course, there was Brandy, her little dog and faithful companion.
The Beach offered Ruby a quieter life, surrounded by the things she enjoyed. But her interest in people — and particularly in family — remained as strong as ever.
Remembering Ruby
Ruby’s retirement gave her more time to enjoy the things she loved — her cabin at Winnipeg Beach, gardening, her little dog Brandy and the possibility of finally finding time to paint.
But the years that followed were far too short. Ruby died on July 14, 1987, at the age of 69.
Family memories describe Ruby as a warm and gracious woman, with sparkling blue eyes and a genuine interest in the people around her. That is also the Ruby that Dan remembers — the woman who welcomed a complete stranger into her home for tea simply because he was interested in family history, and who quickly became a dear friend.
The original family history acknowledged her contribution very simply:
“Ruby was a great help in preparing this part of the history. Ruby was a wonderful warm person and will always have a fond spot in our hearts.”
More than forty years after that first telephone call, Ruby’s contribution can still be found in the stories preserved on these pages.
The Story She Helped Preserve
Our journey through this branch began with Thomas Shiels and Elizabeth Prentice, who left Scotland with their young family in 1852. Their descendants travelled through Illinois, Ontario and Dakota Territory before eventually returning to Canada and establishing new lives in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
We followed that journey through their son Thomas Prentice Shiels and Margaret Avery, then through George Robert Shiels and Rosa Stefansson, and finally to their daughter Ruby.
Ruby had no descendants of her own, but that does not make her the end of the story. In many ways, she helped ensure that the story continued.
Through the memories she shared, the names she helped locate and the many hours spent comparing family notes, Ruby helped preserve the history of this branch for generations she would never meet.
And that is why this branch of our Shiels family story ends here — with my friend Ruby.