Sheila Masterson, Whalley Advocate, 72

Sheila Masterson, a leading advocate for Whalley Avenue merchants and neighborhood improvement, has died at the age of 72.

She passed on April 18 in hospice after suffering a stroke, according to her sister, Helen Bechard.

Masterson served as executive director of Whalley Avenue Special Services District from its founding in the 1990s through her death. She was known as a tireless worker who got along with people of all backgrounds and mentored young people.

“She was a force of nature, my sister,” Helen said. ​“She was a people person.”

Sheila was born in Danbury on Aug. 8 1947, to Francis James and Sheila C. (Balfour) Masterson. Her mother was born in Edinburgh, Scotland; her father, an Air Force flight engineer, met his wife while serving in World War II.

Sheila was the eldest of four children growing up in Lake Candlewood. She obtained a degree from Danbury Teachers College, then taught elementary school in Danbury for a few years.

“She decided that wasn’t her path,” so she took a job in the office at the Howard Johnson’s in town, Helen recalled. Sheila worked her way up in hotel management, eventually taking a job, in the 1980s, as manager of the Colony Inn on Chapel Street in New Haven.

In that role, she got to know owners of other local businesses. She became active in merchant groups, eventually taking the helm of WASSD when it formed.

Allen McCollum worked with Masterson since he and his wife opened their first business in the district, KO Women’s Fashions, in 1994

“She came to greet and welcome us to the district offering help in any way we may need,” McCollum recalled. ​“Since then she and I have collaborated on many issues concerning Whalley Avenue and how to better the community. Sheila has been a driving force in the Whalley and Dwight neighborhoods for over 25 years being on the front line as a voice for the people. She will be truly missed.”

Besides advocating for businesses, she took young people in the neighborhood under her wing. She was still a teacher at heart — showing people how to sew and to bake, two of her hobbies.

Dennis Bellamy was one of the young people who got to know Sheila. He met her in eighth grade, when he was at Troup School.

“One of my teachers at the time introduced me to Miss Sheila,” Bellamy recalled. ” I was trying to figure out my life, which direction I was going in. My mother died when I was 5. I moved back to Connecticut to form a relationship with my estranged father. Being here was tough. He had his own struggles that he was dealing with. I didn’t have a lot of stability at home other than my brother’s mother, who took me in.

“I would go to Sheila’s office. We would talk about what I want to do when I grew up. She would support me and have me write down my thoughts. I would always come by her office and sit with her and talk with her. Through the years we formed a very solid relationship.”

That relationship continued when Bellamy went to college in North Carolina, then came home to care for his dying father. Masterson got him a job at Stella’s Bakery on Whalley. (“I was the guy in the back baking the cookies and making the pizza working alongside Stosh and his sister.”) He and Masterson remained connected when he went to film school in California. He would call her every mother’s day, for instance. They considered themselves mother and son.

Sheila was an active board member at Marrakech on Whalley; the nonprofit is planning a memorial event for her when the Covid-19 pandemic passes.

She also became an active member of Saints Aeden and Brendan Parish in her later years, returning to the religious commitment of her youth after going sober, according to her sister Helen. Helen said the family plans a funeral service at the church once restrictions on gatherings are lifted.

Besides Helen and Dennis, Masterson’s survivors include her brother and sister-in-law Ian and Jennifer Masterson; nieces Katherine and Amy Masterson Lurker; and numerous beloved cousins in Scotland, Canada, and the U.S. Masterson was predeceased by her brother James.

Memorial contributions can be sent in her name to Marraskech and Saints Aeden and Brendan Parish.