Sheila Van Dyke

PINEHURST, N.C. – Sheila Van Dyke, a woman of deep faith who had a gift for making close friends wherever she went, passed away peacefully on April 21, 2025, at her home in Pinehurst, N.C., after an illness.

Born in Malone, N.Y., she was the daughter of the late Benjamin and Irene Bregman. Sheila graduated from Boston University with a bachelor’s in English and served as a high school and middle school English teacher in Georgia, Massachusetts, and Malone. She returned to her hometown in the 1960s with her husband at the time, Charles Morgo (deceased), who joined the Bregman family business, Tru-Stitch Footwear.

Sheila gave up teaching to become a devoted mother to her two daughters, Esther and Jennifer. She threw herself into supporting their activities and was ever willing to make a herculean effort. A skilled seamstress and decorator, she would spend hours stitching imaginative Halloween costumes – Pinocchio and Geppetto was a prize winner – or outfits for school and special occasions. When Jennifer needed advanced lessons on the violin, she made a round-trip drive of five hours every week to a renowned teacher in Ontario.

She was an energetic and effective volunteer, serving as a leader of the Malone Arts Council, which brought the Montreal Symphony and other top-tier artists to perform in the rural Adirondack town; a creator of artistic crafts to sell at the hospital’s fundraising bazaar; a Sunday School teacher at the town’s only synagogue, Temple Beth El, where her father led services; and a founder of a youth orchestra. Friends who shared her passion for volunteering were often on the phone or stopping by the kitchen to plan events.

A family move to Grand Rapids, Mich., launched her on a new and successful career as a realtor; she brought a passion to the work of finding the “perfect house” for every client, treating each one as a friend, as she learned their life stories and dreams for the future.

After her first marriage ended in divorce, she fell in love with and married Michigan native Robert “Bob” Van Dyke, who was always ready to embark on adventures, such as power boating in the Great Lakes, and to keep her laughing. Her remarriage also prompted her conversion to Christianity. In Pinehurst, she and Bob were devoted members of Community Presbyterian Church, where she served in a multitude of roles.

She was most passionate about the church’s outreach to help disadvantaged youth in Pinehurst, spending countless joyful hours as an academic tutor, a director of arts and crafts camps, and organizer of an expedition to the North Carolina Museum of Art. She also was an active member of the Pinehurst Garden Club for 23 years, and an ardent member of a Book Club that met for more than two decades.
A lifelong dog lover, she was accompanied in her many doings in Pinehurst by Simba, her loyal border collie.

Through all of her volunteering, she kept a focus on her family and was a proud and loving “Gram” to her three grandchildren: Melissa Rothman (Seth) of Jersey City; Benjamin Diskin (Haley) of Denver; and Gabriella Diskin of Baltimore. She maintained active email exchanges with lifelong friends and with her younger sister, Cyd Sieghart (Josef) of Greenwich, Conn., and regular, discursive phone calls with her daughters, Esther Diskin (Glenn) of Virginia Beach, Va.; Jennifer Morgo of Riva del Garda, Italy; and her stepson, Craig Van Dyke of Grand Rapids.

A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, May 17 at Community Presbyterian Church.