Person:Sharon Sue Wilcox (1)

    MANSFIELD — Sharon Sue Wilcox Hawkins, 77, suffering the results of peritoneal cancer, departed this earthly life Friday, April 15, 2011, at home.

    SERVICE: Requiem Eucharist at 11 a.m. Monday, April 25, at St. Gregory's Episcopal Church, 1091 Country Club Drive, Mansfield. Interment: At her request, her remains will be cremated and interred in Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery, departing Lane "C" at 1:45 p.m. Visitation: For family and friends, 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday in the Parish Hall, St. Gregory's Episcopal Church.

    MEMORIALS: Please do not send flowers. You may make contributions in Sharon's name to St. Gregory's; NORTEX (contact phil_hawkins@sbcglobal.net); or a charity of choice.

    The fifth child of Eula Kimble and James Homer Wilcox, Sharon was born Dec. 4, 1933, in Kokomo, Howard County, Ind. She graduated in May 1951 from Sharpsville High School, Tipton County, Ind. Sharon married Phillip Ardath Hawkins on Aug. 8, 1953, at the Methodist church in Sharpsville, and the marriage produced two sons, Phillip Mark and Stephen Douglas. A homemaker and mother, Sharon also served for 20 years as the vice president of Falcon Crest Wood Products Inc., a family-owned business. Confirmed in the Episcopal faith in 1970 in Dallas, she was very active in the church, singing soprano in the choir, serving as president of the women of the church, serving as the buy¬er for the gift shop, chairing St. Martha's Guild, participating in the Stained Glass Guild, acting as a diocesan representative and numerous other activities. She had many interests, including needlework, gardening, porcelain dolls, stained glass and square and round dancing, where she served in numerous club and North Texas Square and Round Dance Association activities. She had traveled extensively throughout the world.

    She was preceded in death by her mother, father and brother, Kenneth.

    SURVIVORS: Husband, Phillip; sons, Stephen of Mans¬field and Phillip and wife, Maria, and children, Kristopher Thomas and Kaelyn Marie, of Reno, Nev.; grandson, Stuart Joseph and wife, Stephanie; great-granddaughter, Peyton of Dallas; sisters, Betty and husband, Wendell Fenn, of Tucson, Ariz., and Viola Allison of Potterville, Mich.; and brothers, James and wife, Sharon, of Sharpsville, Ind., Henry of Kokomo, Ind., and Timothy and Susanna of The Villages, Fla.

Arlington Funeral Home, 1221 E. Division St., 817-548-1791 View and sign guestbook at www.star-telegram.com/obituaries

Sharon’s obituary as ran in the Fort Worth Star Telegram on Fri, 22 April 2011, at a cost of $583 for one day. It ran, Tuesday, 19 April in the Tipton, IN Tribune ($90) and the Kokomo, IN Tribune ($210).

.......

Following from HAWKINS From Tipton County, Indiana A Migrating American Family 1861-2001 by Phillip A. Hawkins © 2002

    Sharon Sue Wilcox, born during the “big depression” was the fifth child of Eula (Kimble) and James Homer Wilcox. She was born at home on 4 December 1933 in Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana. She had two older sisters, Betty Jane and Viola Mae, and an older brother, James Arthur. Kenneth, born just before her, had died from pneumonia when he was only six months old, and Sharon’s mother was “upset” when another girl was born. Her parents, in 1929, had moved from eastern Ohio, when Homer came to work in the new Kokomo steel mill. Eula’s brothers Arthur, who had first come to Kokomo, and had advised Homer that work was available, would be their only close kin. The rest of the family was far away, with Eula’s family in Bradley, Ohio, and Homer’s in Sandyville, West Virginia. Sharon’s brother Henry Lee was born in Kokomo 7 Dec 1935.

    The family bought a home in Oakford, about five miles south of Kokomo, and moved in probably 1936. There were three rooms downstairs, living room, dinning room, and kitchen, and three bedrooms upstairs. The parents were in the back or east bedroom, the boys in the south, and the three girls in the front or west bedroom. Sharon slept in the iron baby bed until she was in the first grade. She very distinctly remembered the day a new single bed was bought just for her.

    There was a big coal stove that set in the center of the living room in the winter, and was stored in the garage during the summer, a kerosene stove in the kitchen for cooking, and as most homes at that time, no indoor plumbing. The coal stove would be later replaced with a gas furnace, a new bottled gas cook stove would be purchased, but there was not enough space for a bathroom. Homer enclosed the back porch, to make a washroom and they bought a new wringer washing machine. Monday was wash-day. The boys hauled water from the pump outside, it was heated on the old kerosene stove that had been moved from the kitchen, and they washed all day. The clothes were hung outside, sometimes freezing and taking two or three days to dry in the winter, or if it was raining, hung on ropes in the bed rooms and hallway. Wash-day was traditionally bean day for most families, and at the Wilcox’s it was Lima beans. Tuesdays and Wednesdays were ironing days, Thursdays and Fridays were cleaning days, and Saturdays were for shopping. They would go to downtown Kokomo early to shop for clothes and other items, and then to the grocery for the week’s supplies. When they first moved to Oakford the interurban was still running, and they sometimes rode it into town. They had cherry, pear, and apple trees, a grape arbor, and always a big garden. What was not eaten was canned for the winter. Homer built the garage, and when they started raising chickens he built a chicken house. They had a lot of chickens for a while, but had to quit when feed became too expensive. Many of the feed sacks of the time were made of pretty cotton print, and provided the material for the family’s dresses, bloomers, sun suits, and aprons.

    During the war there was rationing, and each family was issued books of stamps for the different items like sugar, coffee, and butter. Families used more of one thing sometimes than they did another; so most people traded stamps to get what they needed. There were paper drives, going from house to house collecting old newspapers, the fields were walked to harvest milk weed pods, and everyone saved the meat drippings to be turned in for processing. When the war ended, everyone was so happy. They celebrated, bells were ringing, horns honking, and everyone was cheering. Everyone went wild. Sharon recalled that they never had a lot, but they had as much as most other people, and they never felt poor. They never went without except that in the summer they went barefoot and had one pair of new Sunday shoes purchased at Easter time. Again, when school started in September, they got new shoes that had to last until summer. Homer had a shoe repair box with a metal foot that he would use to tack on new soles and heels. One spring Sharon and Hank, and some of their friends decided to clean out the old chicken house, which was larger than the garage. They scraped and scrubbed, and turned it into their roller skating rink. Then, when summer came, it was too hot inside, and they were back to skating on the state highway, two houses away. There wasn’t much traffic then, and the kids regularly skated and bicycled there. Ball jar rubber rings were used to help secure the clamp on skates to the shoes. Sharon never had a bicycle, but learned to ride on her older brother and sister’s bikes. After the interurban stopped running the children would sometimes ride to Kokomo with their dad as he went to work, and spend the day with Mrs. Kriesher. She had been their neighbor before they moved to Oakford and was like a grandmother to them. The bakery man always came to her house delivering bread, and she would buy each a sugar cookie; they were as big as saucers, and fat, and so good. Dad would pick them up when he got off work. 

    The family attended the Baptist church in the west end of Oakford for many years; every Sunday morning and evening, and every Wednesday evening. Easter was a big day with the children always in new clothes, a special church program with recitations, and an egg hunt. The children were always reciting poems; Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, whatever day, and Sharon hated spending weeks memorizing her poems. Later, when Homer was on the church board, there was a big disagreement among the board members, he resigned, and they stopped going to church. It was many years later when Homer and Eula again returned to the Baptist Church. 

    The Oakford School was a two story red brick building, less than a block down the street north from their home. There were two teachers, one serving as the principal, and each teaching four grades, with about six to eight students in each grade. There were two classrooms upstairs with grades one through four in one room, and grades five through eight in the other. Downstairs, in the basement, were the rest rooms, a furnace room, and a large play room. The students had a choice of Kokomo or Sharpsville for high school, and the Wilcox’s chose the school bus ride to Sharpsville, three miles to the south.

    The Wilcox’s went to church as a family, at home they played lots of games like dominoes and Monopoly, and all summer they went to free outdoor movies sponsored by the merchants in different towns. Homer loved to fish, and the family usually packed a picnic and went along. On two occasions the family drove all night to West Virginia to visit, and those were the only times that Sharon ever saw her grandfather Wilcox. Her grandmother Wilcox had died when her dad was only five years old. Her mother’s father, William Kimble a coal miner, was killed in 1932 in Bradley, Ohio when the unions were organizing the mine-workers, and she never remembered seeing her grandmother Kimble. Grandpa Wilcox was a farmer, and he raised lots of chickens, and on the first trip there were baby chickens running everywhere. Also, he had a rain barrel at the corner of the house, like they had at home to catch soft water, and it was full. Sharon, putting the two together, decided to baptize the young chickens. Catching one of the chicks, she immersed it in the rain barrel, just like she had seen it done by the church people in the river or at the pit. The chick did not survive. Sharon would not be baptized in the pit when she was young, as it always frightened her, but she later would be “sprinkled.” Returning from the second trip, when Sharon was in the fifth or sixth grade, it was discovered that she had head lice. Her mom cut her hair short, and poured kerosene on her head for several days to get rid of them. “I was very embarrassed as everyone at school and at home had to go through the treatment.” 

    Halloween always started early, the standard being two weeks. Trick or treating, throwing corn on porches, soaping windows, and pulling the house electric power switches was great fun. Most of the switches were simple bayonet types that were exposed and located high on the back porch. During the war and after, the older kids pulled tires. Rubber was rationed, tires were hard to come by, and they were expensive. They would tie a wire to an old tire, lay it beside the road, and then hide in the cornfield or weeds. A car would come along, see the tire, stop, and backup. When they reached for the tire the kids would pull it and start running and laughing. 

    Hank’s birthday was three days after Sharon’s in early December. Birthdays got in the way of things, but their mother usually baked them a cake, and one year they had a party; together. Christmas wasn’t a big deal, usually a couple of presents each, and dinner with turkey and dressing. “Dad” always wanted the kids home, or he wanted to know where they were. “Mom” was supposed to keep up with them. He would set the time to be home, and they had better be there. Sharon remembered being switched with an apple limb a couple of times, once with Hank, because they were late.

    There was a guy that lived with his mother just outside of Oakford. He was probably in his thirties, and every once in a while he would get drunk, get on his tractor, and drive into town and do wheelies. He would drive around in circles in front of the grocery store, whooping and carrying on like crazy. As soon as the kids heard about it, though their parents didn’t like for them to see it, they would all be there watching. The sheriff would be called and they would haul “TD” Applegate off to jail. Sharon was always afraid when it stormed. In Indiana in the springtime it was tornado time, and tornadoes frightened her. They had gone to see where a tornado had touched down, and it was always unbelievable, and very frightening. One year, probably about the seventh grade, a  man came around selling musical instruments. They bought a clarinet for Sharon, the only one of the children that showed any interest, and she was signed up for lessons with him each Saturday morning in Kokomo. She soon thought about quitting, but her mother would not allow it after spending the money. Sharon later played in the band at Sharpsville, but said that she was never very good. Sharon had worked at baby sitting, she cleaned house for a lady, she had rode the tomato planter in the spring sometimes, and in the fall she had helped in the fields, picking tomatoes after the Mexicans had left for the year. The summer after her freshman year she worked as a carhop at the Lighthouse Drive-In, one of the first in Kokomo. During high school she was in the band, sang in the chorus, and was the female lead in both the junior and the senior play. She was active in most of the school activities, and along with everyone attended the basketball games. Sharon had lot’s of boy friends throughout grade school, and high school, but her dad was very set in his ways, and would not allow her to date before she was sixteen. It was OK to go with her brother Jim and his friend, her boyfriend, who had a Model A Ford with a rumble seat. Her freshman year, at Sharpsville she had a big crush on Phil, “but he was very big on himself, and his older friends, since he was on the starting basket ball team, and hanging out with older kids - like juniors and seniors.” About the time that she and Phil started dating in late 1951, one of the guys that she had been dating for a year was getting real serious and brought her a ring and a marriage proposal; which she declined. 

    After graduating from high school, Sharon had her tonsils removed, and when she came home there were a lot of friends in to visit. Talking too much, she started hemorrhaging, and had to make an emergency return to the hospital. Her first full time job was in Kokomo at the Lightfoot Insurance agency, as a receptionist/secretary, and she rode back and forth with some people that lived in Oakford. When Phil left for Indiana University in the fall, they decided that they should be free to date. Many of her friends had gone in different directions, but she was pretty busy on the weekends, as one or another would be home, and sometimes two or three boy friends would be there on the same weekend. She was still living at home and her multiple dating was making her mother nervous. One Saturday she went to lunch and shopping with one guy, had a date with another that evening, and on Sunday morning went to church and lunch with yet another. No wonder her mother was nervous. After going to work in Kokomo, she had joined a social  sorority that some of her new friends belonged to. She was selected as her sororities candidate for the Sweetheart Ball in February, but when those present at the ball voted, a girl from a larger sorority was picked. She signed up for monthly payments to purchase silverware by Prestige in the Distinction pattern, and on 21 April 1952, a third brother, Timothy Scott, was born. In all of this time her folks had never had a telephone. Homer said that if they needed to talk to some one in Oakford they could go see them, and if it was long distance, it was too expensive. Heeding the advice of her brother-in-law, Wendell Fenn, Sharon took an evening course at the business college to learn how to operate a comptometer, a keyboard calculating machine. After completing the course she was hired by the Continental Steel Corporation in Kokomo, and trained on a bookkeeping machine. Making more money, she was  thinking about getting her own apartment, and buying a car. Instead she and Phil decided to get married, since she was making enough money to support them.

    Sharon had not thought about having a big wedding. Her family was small, and they didn’t have much. Most of her friends did not have formal weddings. But Phil and Sharon had been very popular, Phil was from a large family, he was the first grandson to be married, and the many relatives and friends were expecting invitations. Plans were made for a church wedding, and “everyone” was invited. There was a lot of planning and the families pitched in to help. It was a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, and the Sharpsville Methodist Church was standing room only. There was a reception in the basement and then the newly weds were off for a weekend honeymoon to South Bend and the Indiana Dunes State Park.

   The preceding was submitted by Sharon. The following was with her assistance.

   Phillip Ardath Hawkins and Sharon Sue Wilcox were married in the Sharpsville, Indiana Methodist church on Saturday afternoon, 8 August 1953, by the Reverend Clarence G. Cook. Phil, was the son of Harold and Lois Hawkins of Sharpsville. Exiting the church they beheld their soap decorated 1951 Plymouth, with empty cans wired to the underside of the chassis, and when they started the car the ignition set off a smoke bomb in the engine compartment. The embarrassed newly weds had to stop at a Kokomo service station, where the cans were removed; no charge of course. They registered at the LaSalle Hotel in South Bend for a weekend honeymoon, and memories included a trip to the theater to view Shane with Alan Ladd, and walking in the sand at Indiana Dunes State Park. After the honeymoon they would reside with Phil’s parents at their farm home east of Sharpsville until school started in three weeks.

    Phil and Sharon had first met as freshman, when Sharon rode the school bus from Oakford to Sharpsville to attend high school. Phil had certainly noticed this pretty girl, but she didn’t seem to pay him much attention, and besides he was occupied with basketball, band, class activities, and working. Following the senior play on 13 December 1950 [where Sharon & Phil were leads] the cast went to Kokomo to eat, and there a friend of Sharon’s, Louise Jarrett, said that Sharon needed a ride home, and asked if he would take her. Phil of course was delighted and on the way gathered the courage to ask if she would like to go to a movie on Saturday night. She agreed, and they dated steadily after that.

    Phil had expended most of his savings during the freshman year at IU, and in the fall of 1952 transferred to Butler University in Indianapolis. He worked a full time, 3 to 11 shift, as a runner at the Stark & Wetzel Meat Packing Company in Indianapolis, carried 17 hours each semester that sophomore year, had received a 2.7 grade average. He decided that full time school and full time work were too much, and with the Korean War in progress he was considering volunteering for the cadet aviation program. A solution was reached when Sharon agreed that two could live almost as cheaply as one, and that she could work full time, while Phil went to school and worked part time.

    In September of 1953 they moved to Indianapolis and Sharon, who had earlier completed a comptometer course, went to work in the accounting department at the Chrysler Plant. They found a beautiful upstairs room with a small kitchenette at 326 S. Audubon Road in Irvington, where they lived until Phil graduated. In 1953 Eisenhower was President, first class postage was three cents, the Korean Armistice was signed, and Phil and Sharon reported to the Internal Revenue Service an adjusted gross income of $573.33.

    Sharon worked at Chrysler for the next two years, and Phil held part time jobs. With Sharon’s help, Phil graduated in Butler’s centennial class on 13 June 1955 with a BS in General Business with majors in economics and in accounting. He was also commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.

    Jobs were scarce when Phil graduated. He had interviewed with a few large companies, but facing a three-year Air Force tour, there were no job offers. There first son, Phillip Mark was born 30 July. They moved back in with Phil’s parents, and his father helped him get a job on the assembly line at Delco Radio in Kokomo. Active duty orders arrived in December.

    Basic flight training Was a Graham airbase near Marianna, Florida. In the fall of 1956 they had moved to Brian Air Force Base near College Station, Texas for advanced flight training. The following spring Phil received his wings and they moved to Luke Air Force Base, Phoenix, Arizona for combat crew training. In the late fall they arrived in Chaumont, France, Phil was assigned as a pilot with the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing. They were there until the spring of 1960 when they separated from the Air Force. While in Europe they traveled whenever they could; France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium & Holland. Phil was everywhere as a part of his duty.

    Following a short period in Indiana with family, they moved it to Springfield, Illinois where Phil had taken a job with an insurance company. He also joined the Illinois Air National Guard where weekend flying would provide additional funds to help them in their new life. The job was working out well and in December they purchased their first home for $18,000.

    Later in 1961 the Berlin crisis erupted, and in September President Kennedy ordered Phil’s unit, the 170th Tactical Fighter Squadron to extended active duty. The unit was to prepare for immediate movement to Europe. They sold their house for $19,500, and the family was preparing to move back to Indiana, when the unit was placed on hold. The situation abated and the unit remained in place. In August 1962 they were released from extended active duty.

    Phil went back to work with the insurance agency and they purchased another new home. Then in the fall the agency decided that it was going to open a St. Louis office with Phil as the agency manager, not a move that they wanted to make. Sharon suggested that maybe he should think about becoming an airline pilot, but there was little personal interest. In October Phil was offered a GS – 12 position as a full-time flight technician with the Guard Unit that he accepted.

    The next four years were good years. They purchased a new, red Ford Galaxy convertible for $3500, spent a lot of time with their boys Cub Scouting, Y-guides, PTA, Jaycees, church, visiting state parks, etc. Sharon had talked Phil into her taking a part-time job while the boys were in school that he reluctantly agreed to. She enjoyed working as a secretary, but some of the allure was lost when Phil suggested that her income should go into the common pot.

    In the summer of 1966 it was decided that Phil should interview with the airlines that were doing considerable hiring. He had been promoted to Major and loved his current job, but at that time there was no state retirement package; expected sometime in the future, but not yet enacted. He advised his employer that he would probably be making a rapid change and started interviewing. He started receiving offers and accepted one on 3 October that he would start within 11 days, Braniff international in Dallas Texas. The house was put up for sale, and Sharon would remain in Springfield to tie up all the loose ends. The house closed on 10 October and Sharon and the boys were on their way to Texas.

    They celebrated Thanksgiving in a nice 2500 square-foot rental house close to the Dallas airport Phil would be flying out of. He transferred his military flying to Fort Smith, Arkansas, and the future again was looking bright. In October 1968 they purchased a new 2950 square foot home for $45,500. The family joined the Episcopal Church, and would always be very active participants. Both sang in the choir, Sharon served as a president of the Women of the Church, Phil served on the vestry, the boys served as acolytes, and helped with ground maintenance.

    Space available travel on Braniff International was a negligible charge that they took advantage of while the boys were still with them. Some of the places visited included Rome, Athens, The Holy Land, Mexico, England & Japan, and each year a trip to Indiana to visit with family. Both boys took flying lessons, the eldest making it a career, and they did well in school, continuing on to graduate from college. Their first grandson was born 21 November 1980.

    On 13 May 1982, Phil was on Braniff to Hawaii to put in a few days of duty at the Pacific Command Headquarters. He was a Colonel, with an M-Day assignment as the Deputy J1, U. S. Forces Japan. Shortly before landing the crew advised him and the other non-revenue passengers that they had just been informed that Braniff had declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and that if they desired to return to Dallas they should remain on the aircraft as it would be refueled and depart immediately with only employees.

    Phil was too old to start at the bottom of another flying job, and they incorporated Falcon Crest Wood Products. They started out making gift items for stores and catalogs. The business grew and needing more room, they purchased 15 ½ acres near Rhome, Texas with a 2450 square foot house and a 6000 square foot aircraft hangar to house the business.

    In early 1984 a son, Steve became a partner in the business. Phil had accepted a recall to Braniff at that time and it was thought Sharon and Steve could operate the business satisfactorily with Phil’s part time help. An additional 1200 square feet was added to the hanger and on 01 October Phil retired from the Air Force a few months shy of 30 years of service. Over the following couple of years, production was shifted from the gift market to supplying consoles and interior trim to automobile dealers for customizing their vehicles.

    In November 1989 Braniff again declared bankruptcy. They reorganized, but Phil did not accept the recall. They had decided that his flying days were over. The business was full-time for everyone.

    Sharon and Phil started square dancing in early 1991, something that Sharon had always wanted to do. Over the next the 20 years they served in almost every capacity with their local clubs and with the North Texas Association.

    In early 1994 Falcon Crest lost a major customer when the customer shifted from the walnut and oak wood they were producing to vinyl. New accounts were added, but they did not make up for the customer that was lost. A second grandson was born in May. The year 1995 was a profitable year, but it was not a good year. In December the first granddaughter was born. Phil was diagnosed with prostate cancer near the end of the year, and had surgery early in 1996. At that time it was decided that the business should be pretty much turned over to Steve. 

    The outstanding stock in Falcon Crest was gifted to Steve in 1998. That year Sharon and Phil were elected to vice president positions with the N. Texas Sq. dance Association, and would serve continuously in various positions with that organization until Sharon’s death in 2011. They spent the years 1996 through early 2002 compiling, editing & publishing a large Hawkins family picture history [from which this is copied] involving in detail the lines of five generations of the family with a general history of the preceding known seven generations before them.

    Steve, in early 2000, decided to sell the business and equipment. It was just more than he wanted to do by himself. Employees were released 01 September, and he and Sharon Worked an additional 30 days completing orders. Spending most of their time in the Metropolitan Dallas-Fort Worth area with the square dancing Sharon and Phil began looking for property in mid-2000. They built in Mansfield, a suburb of Fort Worth, and closed on 28 November for $219,000. The Rhome property was put for sale on 28 December. and moving some things they were living in both places. A sale that included a new relay tower and mineral rights was closed 21 March 2001 for $329,000, carrying a 30 year term note at 8 %. On 31 December 2001 a first-class stamp was 34 cents, and gasoline was 93 cents per gallon.

    In the years following their move to Mansfield they stayed very involved in square and round dancing. They served in all of the local clubs elected positions, and were also very active in the N. Texas Square & Round Dance Association. They chaired many fundraising projects, event functions, style shows, etc., were appointed to special posts such as parliamentarian. Elected positions included Treasures and Area Vice-Presidents. They normally danced three nights a week.

    Sharon was a beautiful seamstress and made many of her fashions. She did not often purchase a dress, slacks or a jacket. Her home was elegant and always in good taste. She was artistic and liked working in the yard with flowers and landscaping.

    New endeavors in Mansfield were to include novels. She had never found much time for fun reading. It was a very new thing to see her with a book in her hand almost every evening. She continued decorative arts, adding dolls and stained glass with the usual excellence. The stained-glass in addition to ornaments and decorations included large window transoms, and a Christ the King window for St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church. With more time on her hands she also took up physical fitness at Curves and walking.

    Sharon participated in the church guilds, was an avid shopper, but did not purchase much, loved Branson, Missouri shows, slot machines in Las Vegas, Nevada and wagering on the horses. Travel included a couple of trips to Indiana each year to visit family and if they drove a stop in Branson for a few shows on the return trip. Also each year a couple of trips to Reno, Nevada to visit with grandchildren. Each year they would share a condo with her sister Betty and Wendell for a week, usually in Ruidoso, New Mexico with a day or two at the horse track.

    In November 2007 a missing heartbeat was traced to a problem in the upper right chamber of her heart and she was placed on blood thinner. That did not slow her down any. In March 2009 it was discovered that she had cancer, and that would not slow her down very much either. She had developed a rash and following a number of tests it was determined that she had Peritoneal cancer, similar to ovarian. She was advised that it was not curable, but was treatable. On May 1st she started a three drug chemo regimen. She was a bit nauseous & ill for three days, and then back to normal. The week of 28 May they shared a condo in Ruidoso, NM with her sister Betty & husband Wendell, and they continued to dance, still three evenings each week. The eighth and final treatment in the series was November 5th and they spent Christmas in Reno, Nevada with their eldest son and family.

    On March 4th, 2010 tests indicated that the cancer was still there, Sharon started a second series of treatments that included Doxil. That was not working and in mid-June she started a third treatment weekly of Gemcitabine. She had continued handling the treatments well and they had continued dancing weekly, traveled to Indiana to visit family in June and then to Ruidoso for a week with her sister and husband.

    The ninth treatment in this series was on 14 September, and the doctor told her that she was “a tough ole bird.” The treatments were taking their toll. She had never really been sick so much as “zapped” following a treatment. Nausea pills early on dealt with that side effect of chemo. She was still dancing weekly and in November they accompanied the square dance group to Branson for a long weekend. The trip exhausted her. For the first time ever Sharon did not stay up to view the New Year’s Eve dropping of the ball in Times Square, New York.

    On 03 January 2011 the original treatment of carboplatin’s less the Toxil was resumed. On the 24th, while receiving the chemo she went to the restroom, and while there she experienced a reaction, and rang for help. The paramedics were called and they rushed her to the hospital. They kept her for about three hours and released her, she was fine, and went home.

    In early February she was advised that chemo could no longer be continued, and that the doctor was checking for any special programs she might be enrolled in. On the 24th he advised that he had been unable to find any programs she was qualified for, and on 10 March advised that her time was now measured in weeks. That afternoon Sharon was enrolled in the Vitas home hospice program. She would be given medication to alleviate any pain, and a nurse would check her regularly.

    Through the night of 14-15 April Sharon was experiencing real pain for the first time. All the Fort Worth nurses had been called out and it was 6:30 in the mornind when finally a nurse arrived from Dallas and administered two doses of oral morphine. The morphine put her to sleep and a nurse remained with her. She never awoke and passed peacefully at 8:30 that evening.

    Her remains are interred in the Dallas Fort Worth National Cemetery, Columbarium B: CT3, Niche B185.