Sharon Sides Wilson, 93, passed away Monday, March 18, 2024, at Wesley Glen in Columbus Ohio.  Sharon was born during the Great Depression on February 25, 1931, in Heber City, Utah to the late Albert and Pauline (Wolf) Sides.

Sharon spent her early childhood moving every couple of years because her father worked on many of the massive earth moving projects happening in the United States at the time. Some of the places she briefly called home were Utah, California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Idaho, South Carolina, and West Virginia.  She moved with her parents to Zanesville, Ohio in 1943.   

Sharon graduated from Zanesville (Lash) High School in 1948 where she met and then later married her high school sweetheart, Bill Wilson.  Together they began what would later become the Lumi-Lite Candle Company in the basement of their rented home on Sunkle Avenue.  They had 5 children before divorcing in 1965.  

As a single mother of 5 young children, Sharon earned her Bachelor of Arts degree (magna cum laude) in 1966 from Muskingum University (College) in New Concord, Ohio where she was also on the staff of the Alumni Association.  She earned her Master of Arts degree in 1967 from Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio before purchasing a home and moving her family to New Concord, Ohio where she felt its small-town atmosphere would be beneficial to raising her children. 

Sharon taught hearing-impaired children in the Zanesville public school system for 25 years, three of which she was honored to have overseen a federally funded research program aimed at developing vocational education materials for the deaf. She retired from teaching in 1992. 

Over her lifetime, Sharon delighted in many different hobbies including hiking, biking, camping, photography, gardening, and a wide variety of arts and crafts.   She was proud of her heirloom roses that adorned “the wall” in front of her Main Street home and would often be found outside on a nice spring or summer day in her sunhat carefully pruning them.  She was also proud of the cross-stich square of the family home she created for the William Rainey Harper Memorial Community Quilt, presented to the village on September 17, 1994. Every time she walked past the cabin and saw the quilt on the bed, she said it gave her a thrill. 

Sharon loved to travel with her significant other, John Wynne, or with her daughter, Jan, on adventures that sometimes included her grandchildren.   Her mother, Pauline, claimed Sharon’s middle name actually should have been “traveling” because she had maintained a more or less mobile lifestyle her entire life starting from before she was born (in her mother’s womb) …to her travels in a mobile play pen in the back of the family car whenever they had to  move…to the many car and plane trips she would take as an adult to see the world. 

One of Sharon’s most memorable trips occurred in the 1960’s when she traveled to India with a group of students organized by Muskingum University (College) Professor Joe Elkins. She said the paradox of visiting a country of such astounding beauty and unfathomable poverty had a profound and lasting effect on her.  She witnessed history in the making when she found herself in London for the marriage of Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles and was able to take part in many of the public celebrations.   She loved telling people about sleeping on the street overnight with thousands of strangers to get a front row view of the processional to the church---her photo album from the time shows it was a worthwhile undertaking. 

Sharon was a voracious reader and always loved learning and experiencing new things.   She enjoyed taking her children on “mystery trips” for which she would awaken them in the early hours of the morning, instruct them to get dressed and into the car because they were going “somewhere” that was usually only revealed to them when they had nearly arrived.  Sharon was a member of MENSA, she loved to attend theater, music, and dance events and she also loved to entertain---her parties were legendary…and…she loved cats.  She will also be remembered for her positive outlook on life, her ability to laugh at herself, her generosity, enthusiasm, and open-mindedness, and, finally, her unflagging support of her family. 

She is survived by 4 of her 5 children, Mike Wilson of Flagstaff, Arizona, Mickey Wilson-Skarr of Bradenton, Florida, Marty Downey of Poway, California, and Jody Christensen of Terra Ceia, Florida; plus 5 grandchildren, Kelly, Sonya, Matt, Jonathan, and Alex; and 4 great grandchildren, Audrey, Lauren, William, and Jackson; and many other loving relatives and friends.

In addition to her parents, she was proceeded in death by her beloved partner of many years, John Wynne of Columbus, on December 26, 2023, and a cherished daughter, Jan Wilson, of Bradenton, Florida, on February 28, 2024. 

Sharon’s ashes are interred along with her daughter’s in the Muskingum University Columbarium.