Sheila Markley, 54

Sheila Markley was born Sheila Ann Higgins on Aug. 19, 1959, in Van Nuys, Calif. She grew up and attended schools in the San Fernando Valley; she attended classes at Pierce Junior College, in Woodland Hills, with a concentration in Botany. 

Sheila established and ran her own business, Dr. Plant, providing and maintaining plants in offices in the Valley. She moved to Phoenix, Ariz., in 1979, where she began a career in the electronics industry, in quality control positions in several major corporations.  

 In 1987, she married Richard Lewis, a graduate of Amherst College in Massachusetts, after they met while working at a medical technology company. They subsequently divorced in 1990, and Sheila moved to San Diego for a short time, where she acquired her own Harley Davidson motorcycle. Her next move was to Fairbanks, Alaska. As a cheechakow (in Alaska and Northern Canada, that means a tenderfoot, greenhorn, newcomer) Sheila worked in the plants department at the largest supermarket and general merchandise stores in Fairbanks, tended bar, shoveled snow from roofs in the winter months, drove trucks on the Haul Road, and became an accepted member of the “old timers” – anyone who had been in Alaska five years or more. She learned to drive snow machines and became a devotee in the winter months. She participated in the Mountain Man snowmobile hill climbs in Thompson Pass for several years.

 In 1995, Sheila met Eddie “Grizz” Markley. They married in 1996 and lived in the Goldstream Valley, just north of Fairbanks. After Grizz retired in 2000, they returned to his native state of Montana, where they purchased a home, and the following year they purchased the Golden Nugget Bar and Grill in the Yaak. Sheila was widowed in 2007.

 Sheila had an amazing green thumb – she grew orchids in Alaska, wildflowers in Arizona, and everywhere she lived, she left her traces in the flowers and plants she grew. Her passion was riding – her motorcycle in the summer and her snow machine in the winter. She began riding, perched on the back, at 15, and realized her dream of owning her own motorcycle. She loved nature, the out of doors, camping, fishing and hunting. She most recently embarked on building a business selling essential oils, which in turn led to her studying to become a medical coder. She would have completed her degree in November. She was a phenomenon of the Yaak – dubbed an “icon” by one of her many friends in the area. She was very well known and loved.

Sheila lost her life to injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash near the Yaak on Sunday afternoon, June 22, 2014. 

She was airlifted to Kootenai Health in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, but later died due to head trauma. No other vehicles were involved. Sheila was riding with her fiancé, Jimmy Jones, when her motorcycle crashed for reasons still unknown.  

She is survived by her fiancé Jimmy Jones, of Troy. They had many interests in common and spent time exploring the mountains of Northwest Montana where they lived. They enjoyed riding their motorcycles, hunting and gardening together.

 She is also survived by her mother, Judy Gorman, of Chandler, Ariz.; her sisters Sharon Adams of Chandler, Ariz., and Kat Higgins; her daughters Anna and Lexi of Indianapolis, Ind., and brothers Shawn Gorman and his wife Rochelle and their daughter Vivienne of Philadelphia, Penn., and Jerry Higgins and his wife Leah and their children Sydney and Spencer of South Bend, Ind. 

 The celebration of life for Sheila will take place at 2 p.m. on July 26 at Roosevelt Park in Troy.