Notices

The Loyola University Chicago community mourns the passing of Sheila Rivera, an alumna and continuing graduate student in the Institute of Pastoral Studies. Sheila graduated in May 2019 with a Graduate Certificate in Pastoral Counseling and then returned as a non-degree seeking student, planning next to enroll in an IPS Rome course. She was working at the Cook County Jail, a compassionate person with a servant’s heart, and succumbed to COVID-19 on Sunday, April 19.

A member of the Mississippi Band of Chockaw Indians tribe, Sheila described growing up on a reservation “rich in culture and language” but also perforated with injustice and she spent her life seeking to serve those in need. She attended Haskell Indian Nations University and the University of Oklahoma before completing the Master of Social Work degree at Washington University in St. Louis. She served her community as a social worker, tribal police officer, and probation officer.

Sheila and her husband Noland moved to Chicago in 2007. She enrolled in the Pastoral Counseling program at the Institute of Pastoral Studies in 2016. At the time, she was working the overnight shift at Cook County Jail while Noland worked a day shift at the Chicago Police Department. Sheila described her context at work as “the new mental health center” and she aimed to augment her education and skills with training as a counselor in order to be better present to the detained women she saw every night, inmates suffering medical and mental health issues. Most recently, she was working in the County’s Residential Treatment Unit, which provides treatment for substance abuse, mental illness, and general health screenings and evaluations for inmates at the jail. Her long-term goal was to work at Cook County Jail’s Division 17: Women’s Justice Services.

Sheila leaves a striking legacy of compassion, service, and faith. Our community mourns her passing and offers prayers for her family, friends, co-workers, and those she has blessed.