Sheila Ann Buros

Sheila Ann Buros, 68 of Aurora, Colorado passed away suddenly on October 31, 2017 in the ICU at The Medical Center of Aurora. She was born on January 21, 1949 in Rochester, NY to William and Marion (Higgins) Fullam. Sheila grew up in Rochester in a very Irish-Catholic oriented family and graduated from Nazareth Academy (a Catholic high school) in 1967 on the 25th anniversary of her mother’s graduation from the same school. While at the Academy she was active in their music programs and played Anna in the King and I. Sheila was also selected as the Academy’s May Queen in 1967. She was baptized at St. Peter and Paul’s and confirmed at the St. Monica Catholic church and in 1968 she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph in Rochester but left in 1971. She attended Nazareth College in Rochester graduating in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in Music Performance. After college she took a short-term administrative job with the Rochester Red Wings baseball team. Based on a friend’s tip she applied in 1972 for a job as a music teacher at the Country Day School on the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The headmaster interviewed her over the phone as he desperately looked for a replacement teacher. That plus the mistaken belief by the headmaster that she was a Nazarene led her to be accepted and within a few weeks she flew to the islands. Although the Caribbean climate and culture was radically different from Rochester she quickly involved herself in island life. She was especially active in the local island theater group playing the violin in the orchestra and acting in some of the performances. She played Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz and Marian the Librarian in The Music Man. At one of the cast parties she met her future husband, Kris Buros who was also employed on the island. Displaying her enhanced skills at cultural integration she accepted a proposal of marriage from this downstate New Yorker with a Scandinavian-Protestant background. They were married on June 29, 1974 at the St. Monica church in Rochester and lived on St. Croix until 1976 in a house overlooking the town of Christiansted. The marriage lasted for 43+ happy and adventurous years. They moved to Gainesville, Florida in 1976 where Sheila taught life skills to displaced homemakers at the Sante Fe Community College. She was active in community affairs and was President of The Corner Drug Store and the local League of Women Voters. In 1994 she was awarded a Women of Distinction Award by the Sante Fe Community College. She and her friend Doris Bardon co-authored a small book on being a citizen activist entitled, Yes You Can. In 1995 Kris was transferred to Denver, Colorado to work in his company’s international division and Sheila did some work with local groups but mostly kept the house running while Kris was traveling. She would often travel with Kris on his overseas assignments. These included countries in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Her most extensive travel was to Lviv, Ukraine where she made numerous trips to join Kris in his apartment in the city over a period of eight years. She learned to speak Russian and Ukrainian and enjoyed living and taking in the cultural activities in this beautiful city. She especially enjoyed shopping with Nadia the housekeeper (who spoke no English), going to the office picnics and attending opera performances. Once Kris retired from full time work in 2004 they started traveling for fun. They did a number of trips to Europe including going back to Ukraine and visiting the village in County Mayo, Ireland where her grandfather was born. As her husband got older they switched to doing cruises and had completed 16 of them at the time of her passing. Over the years they visited about 75 countries and all seven continents. She and Kris made a great team to travel the world with Kris doing the planning and Sheila doing the schmoozing. They also traveled extensively around the USA to visit friends and relatives. Sheila is survived by her husband Kris and two brothers, Michael Fullam in Mifflinburg, PA and Patrick Fullam in Las Vegas, NV, plus numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. On Saturday, November 18, 2017 family and friends will be hosting a combination of a visitation and reception to celebrate Sheila’s life at the Horan & McConaty chapel, 5303 East County Line Road, Centennial, CO 80122. The Facility is on a hill and has a nice west view of the mountains so we can watch the sun set at about 4:40 p.m. before adjourning These activities will go on concurrently with snacks, coffee, cold drinks, dessert, beer and wine being provided - the idea is to have a comfortable visit with people who knew us in our different roles and activities. You are certainly welcome to bring an adult beverage (no food please) to share with others as we celebrate her life. She was Irish (her mother was a Higgins) and this would only be appropriate. We would certainly appreciate and enjoy your company at the celebration and dressing up is not required. A Memorial Mass for Sheila will be held at the St. Monica Catholic Church in Rochester, NY at noon on Saturday, December 9, 2017. The address is 831 Genesee Street, Rochester, NY 14611. The mass will be followed by a reception. In lieu of flowers, the best gift you could give her is to leave a memory either on the funeral home website and/or writing her husband at kris.buros@gmail.com. If you do wish to make a memorial donation in her honor then it can be given to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester (NY) at www.ssjrochester.org. Please share memories of Sheila, and condolences for her family, by signing the guestbook below.