Sheila A. Cannon

05/13/2001

Sheila A. Cannon, 71, of 582 Pleasant St., Holyoke, a native of Pittsfield, died Sunday morning at Holyoke Hospital. Born Dec. 13, 1929, daughter of Melvin and Mary Wallace Fassell, she was a 1948 graduate of Pittsfield High School. She also graduated from the former Berkshire Business College. Mrs. Cannon was employed by Kemper Insurance Co. at one time and later was an executive secretary at GE ordnance. In 1968, she joined the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce as manager of membership development and services and, in 1977, became membership director of the Daytona Beach (Fla.) Area Chamber of Commerce. She joined the Orlando Area Chamber of Commerce in 1979 and, in 1982, became executive director of the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce, where she became executive vice president in 1994. She helped to triple charter membership and establish an economic development council and, during her tenure, the Cincinnati Reds moved its spring training camp to Plant City. She was credited with coordinating activities to keep the Reds in Hillsborough County and a state-of-the-art stadium was constructed. She became executive vice president of the Hillsborough County Association of Chamber of Commerce in 1995, and, in 1997, was appointed executive vice president of the Ruskin Chamber of Commerce. She retired in 1998 and returned to Massachusetts to be near her family. Mrs. Cannon was a member and board member of the Plant City YMCA, Plant City Arts Council and East Hillsborough Historical Society. Her husband, W. Milton Cannon, whom she married July 28, 1962, at St. Teresa's Church in Pittsfield, died Sept. 13, 1974. She leaves a sister, Patricia F. Pixley of Easthampton. The funeral will be tomorrow, Wednesday, May 16, at 10:15 from DWYER FUNERAL HOME, with a Liturgy of Christian Burial at 11 in St. Charles' Church celebrated by the Rev. Peter A. Gregory, pastor. Burial will follow in St. Joseph's Cemetery. Calling hours at the funeral home will be today, May 15, from 4 to 7. If friends desire, memorial donations may be made to St. Charles' Church in care of the funeral home. Mrs. Cannon was predeceased by two brothers, M. Wallace Fassell and Harmon S. Fassell.

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