Sheila H. (Haskell) Mann

Sheila H. Mann Easton, Sheila Haskell Mann died at the age of 94 on Tuesday, June 26, at her home at The Gardens of William Hill Manor in Easton, Maryland. She grew up in London, England. Although Sheila had been university-bound, the war intervened, and she obtained a job with the British Defense Department where she worked from 1939 until 1950. She served as a clerical officer in the War Cabinet Office (now the Churchill War Rooms, a museum), an underground bunker located under White Hall in London, which was the central headquarters of the Allied War effort. The high level military and civilian leaders with whom she worked included Winston Churchill, whom she characterized as an “old curmudgeon.” She was so nervous before D-Day that she feared she might give something away to the family with whom she was living in London. She refused to resort to the Underground stations for protection during the nightly air raids, preferring explosion to burial. After the war, she moved temporarily to Washington, D.C. to fill in for a British Defense Department employee – a move that became permanent. Sheila was introduced to J. David Mann Jr. by one of her roommates, a woman who had worked with him in Hawaii during the war. She and David were married in 1949 and she promptly lost her highest level security clearance with the British Defense Department because “her allegiances were divided.” She turned her attention to raising two children and proved to be a loyal, devoted and caring mother. She volunteered as a docent at the Smithsonian Institution and she and David were long time members of the Congressional Country Club. They spent their leisure time at their much-loved home on Tilghman Island, Maryland, and, when David retired from the practice of law with Morgan, Lewis and Bockius in Washington, D.C., they built a house on the Miles River near the mouth of the harbor in St. Michaels. Sheila volunteered at the St. Michaels Library and the Maritime Museum and she and David were actively involved in the community. They were communicants at Christ Church, St. Michaels and members of the Talbot Country Club. At the time of David’s death in 1999, they had been married for fifty years. Sheila subsequently moved to William Hill Manor. She is survived by her son J. David Mann III and daughter-in-law, Bonnie Mann of Arlington, Virginia; her daughter Deborah Mann, son-in-law Geoffrey Cummings and grandchildren Elizabeth Cummings and Sarah Cummings of Cape Elizabeth, Maine; her sister June Jansson of Easton and her nieces Karin Jansson of Carmel Valley, California, and Clare Jansson of Charlotte, North Carolina. The family would like to express its gratitude to her caregivers at Home Instead Senior Care and the patient and devoted staff at The Gardens of William Hill Manor whose kindness and professionalism supported Sheila and enabled her to enjoy her later years with humor and a full awareness of everything around her. Services will be private. The family request that donations be made to Talbot Hospice Foundation 586 Cynwood Drive, Easton, MD. 21601, or to the Salvation Army. Arrangements are by the Hurley & Ostrowski Funeral Home P.A. of St. Michaels