Sheila Ann Martin née Cowan (born July 31, 1943) is the wife of Paul Martin

Paul Martin

Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....

, who served as the 21st Prime Minister of Canada

Prime Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

 from December 12, 2003 to February 6, 2006.

She and Paul were neighbours and her father was law partners with Paul Martin Sr in Windsor, Ontario

Windsor, Ontario

Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...

. Married in 1965, she has been the wife of a politician and a stay-at-home mom.

She is a private person who played a low-key role in her husband's career.

A Canada Steamship Lines ship, Sheila Ann, is named in her honour.

They have three sons:

1. Paul William, born September 11, 1966
2. Jamie Robert, born June 21, 1969
3. David Patrick, born September 13, 1974

Before her husband became the Prime Minister of Canada, Sheila Martin's work in Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

 included serving on a committee called Politics and the Pen, and on this committee she helped give prizes and money to Canadian writers. The job was said to fit with her "own literary tastes." In 2002, when Paul Martin left the cabinet, he credited her as a support to him and as an advisor:

Third, I want to thank the many friends who called or sent messages in recent days. I'm enriched by their friendship and their support. In that respect, I want to thank above all others Sheila and my family for their patience and their advice.

Throughout these years, Sheila Martin apparently had little aspirations in regards to her husband's office. Her husband's biographer John Gray

John Gray (Canadian author)

John Gray is a Canadian journalist and author whose work includes Paul Martin: The Power of Ambition, a biography with an emphasis on Martin's life-long quest to be Prime Minister. A former journalist with the Ottawa Citizen, Gray also had many roles in 20 years of work for The Globe and Mail,...

quoted her as saying, "Oh, God, I don't want to do this at all, so I just don't think about it."