Eileen Erdmann died suddenly on Aug. 9 at her home in North Las Vegas, Nevada.
Eileen was born on Oct. 3, 1953 to Theofield (Ted) and Florence (Rexford) Erdmann. She was Ted’s fourth child and their second child, their first and only girl.
Eileen grew up in Lynden, attending Lynden public schools. She was active in Camp Fire Girls and had an affinity for animals. She loved her horses Misty and Snowball fiercely.
Throughout her life, Eileenwas rarely without a pet. One of the more notable ones was the skunk she had in high school.
Another thing Eileen had an affinity for was numbers. Math came easily for her. When she was a sophomore, she took a national math test. Eileen was the only underclassman at Lynden High School at that time to participate.
Eileen married Will Maas in 1971. Although the marriage did not last, they had a son. He was Eileen’s only child.
After they divorced, Eileen had various jobs: bartending for her father, assistant manager at Burger King (where she was once robbed at gunpoint) and counterperson at NAPA.
It was during these years that Eileen met and married Steve Field, who introduced her to the world of NHRA drag racing.
Mechanically inclined and adept, Eileen took to it immediately. They traveled to as many races as they could. Steve drove and Eileen was part of the pit crew. One of their favorites was their annual trip to the track in Tucson. It was one of the highlights of her life.
Eileen’s marriage to Steve ended and she continued to work at NAPA. By this time, she was getting more into the inventory, ordering and bookkeeping side of things rather than sales.
Eileen and her third husband, John Sharrard, started an auto fleet maintenance business. She ran the entire office side, from scheduling to billing.
When they dissolved the business, Eileen got a job at Jack Nieman’s casino in Bellingham. While working there she was recruited by a casino group from Las Vegas and moved there.
Eileen worked for the consortium for several years until the culmination of the project they had hired her to work on. She received a substantial bonus and, at the same time, was out of a job.
Eileen started working at Design Factory Las Vegas as their bookkeeper and was employed there until her death.
Eileen was preceded in death by her parents, brothers Gerald, Steve and Scott, niece Tanya and nephew Kyle. She is survived by her brothers John (Rita) and Kevin, sisters-in-law Theodora and Lori, nephews TJ, Christopher, John, Joel, Eric and Sean, nieces Jessica and Kristina, son Michael (Jennifer) Maas as well as more extended family.
Eileen was independent, stubborn, proud, generous, capable and brave. She will be deeply missed by her family and friends.
