Age 93
Sister Sharon’s interests in the causes for women, the study of theology and the sharing of faith graced her life and spirituality.
Born in Pana, Illinois, she entered the Sisters of Mercy at the age of 23 in St. Louis, Missouri. She earned a nursing certificate from St. John’s School of Nursing in Springfield, Missouri, a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri, and a master’s degree in nursing from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. She also held a bachelor’s and master’s degree in theology from the Jesuit School of Theology in Chicago, Illinois, and two certificates in the healing arts.
Initially she served at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, as a clinical instructor and supervisor and then surgical supervisor. Next, she was the director of nursing at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, for ten years. She changed careers and became the parish minister at St. Patrick’s in Meridian, Mississippi, for one year, and then the director of adult religion education at Our Lady of Perpetual Help for two years and then at Nativity of Our Lord Parish for nine years, both in Kenner, Louisiana.
After a year sabbatical, she embarked on prison ministry in St Louis, Missouri, founding the Center for Women in Transition (now Keyway: Center for Diversion & Reentry) where she ministered for 23 years. She also volunteered as a teacher at the prison ministry, Buzz Westfall Justice Center. She found great joy working with incarcerated women and wrote, “I Am Somebody,” a book based on the interviews, reflections and dialogue with women who shared their life stories and experiences of living in and through the criminal justice system.
Sister Sharon moved to Catherine’s Residence, a retirement center in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2019 and continued to edit her book which was published in 2022. Committed to criminal justice reform and restorative justice, she felt her book was her greatest accomplishment.