Sharon Kelly

Sharon Jeanne Hawk Kelly was born on 20 September 1948 to Elsie and Paul Hawk in New Brunswick, NJ. A few years after her birth, the Hawk family moved to Lawrence, Kansas where they lived for a short while until the overabundance of tornadoes one year made Paul Hawk pack up the family and move to Romney, West Virginia in 1958. 

While in Romney, Sharon loved hiking, walking around their heavily forested property at the house on River Road, swimming at the Peterson public pool, and riding horses along River Road (especially one named Old Nell). It was here where Sharon met two of her lifelong friends, Betsy and Mary Susan Dunn, when Sharon started the 5^th grade. The three enjoyed ice-skating at the pond at the William’s house, playing hopscotch and kick the can, roller skating, and torturing Sharon’s younger brother, Roger (AKA Mitt).  

Paul Hawk’s job as an engineer at Hercules kept the family on the go during Sharon’s early years, and as a result the family once again moved in 1962, this time to Princeton, NJ. While attending Princeton High School, Sharon met Margaret Koeferal (Crandall) in 1965. Margaret had moved to there from Salt Lake City where her older brother was a friend of Tim Kelly.  Sharon subsequently took Margaret under her wing and introduced her to all of Sharon’s friends. 

In January 1966, Paul Hawk was transferred once again for work, this time to SLC. Wanting to finish her senior year of high school, Sharon stayed in New Jersey with Margaret and her family. While Sharon lived at Margaret’s, Tim used to write nice letters to Margaret. On one occasion, Sharon grumbled that her current boyfriend was a short little guy. Margaret then described Tim, showed Sharon the letters Tim sent, and told Sharon to meet him when she moved to SLC after her graduation in June.

Although she wasn’t too excited about leaving the east coast for Utah, Sharon moved to SLC in the summer of 1966 and instantly fell in love with the mountains. She and Mitt loved going shopping at the Cottonwood Mall in the summer and eating at Piccadilly Fish and Chips in Sugar House, at Romeo’s Italian restaurant with the family, and at Pagoda in the Avenues after a long day of skiing. Sharon also relished spending time at the pool at the Salt Lake Country Club and watching Ron Boone and the Utah Stars play basketball. 

Sharon was also the consummate supporting sister and attended the great majority of Mitt’s little league baseball games and traveled with the family to Jackson, Snowbasin, and Brian Head to cheer on Mitt during his ski races. 

In the fall of 1966 (thanks to Margaret Koeferl), Sharon met the love of her life, Tim Kelly. The Kelly family was legitimately flabbergasted that Tim found someone as beautiful as Sharon. Being the true romantic that he was, Tim took Sharon duck hunting on their first date. Tim later told one of dear friends, Ray Thomas, that he was so excited because he’d found the girl for him because Sharon had held the flashlight for him at the Tooele Dump while he shot rats. “Where would I ever find a girl who likes that?” Tim gushed to Ray. Every time Tim told that story after he and Sharon were married, Sharon would shake her head and say, “No way that ever happened.” Although the story about shooting rats with Tim at the dump has never been corroborated by an independent eyewitness, the story has morphed into legend and is widely recognized (in some circles) as the truth.  

Sharon and Tim were so different but so similar and such a great fit together. Money did not impress Sharon, and that’s a good thing because Tim never had any. Tim had an outlandish personality, a bombastic sense of humor, and an incredible Donald Duck voice and was carefree and larger than life. Sharon was quiet but had a strong presence and was the pragmatic glue and voice of reason who grounded Tim. She also had a subtle and wicked sense of humor and was fast on her feet and famous for her one-liners. Both had hearts of gold and would do anything for anyone.

After falling in love and dating for a few years, Sharon and Tim were married at St Ambrose Church on 22 August 1970. Betsy Dunn was Sharon’s maid of honor at the wedding and Ray Thomas mischievously tricked Betsy (a Methodist who was unfamiliar with the customs of a Catholic mass) into genuflecting at the wrong time at the wedding in front of everyone.

In 1975, Sharon became a mom when Patrick was born. At the time, Sharon and Tim lived in a second-story apartment on South Temple. When Patrick hulked up into a 50-pound bag of cement, trudging up and down the stairs to the apartment with a heavy baby in her arms was no longer an option. Sharon remarked, “Patrick broke my back, so we had to move.” Quickly after, the family moved to Sugar House where Sharon transformed the house on Logan Avenue into a magnificent home and amazing place to grow up.  

After Paul was born in 1979 and Jean arrived in 1983, Sharon became the rock of the family while raising three rambunctious children with a photographer husband who often had to work late into the night. Sharon was the brains of the family who took superb care of the kids and the house. 

Sharon kept Tim grounded and always had to make sure Tim deposited his checks from work. Ray Thomas once found several crumpled up expense checks worth a few hundred dollars in the back seat of Tim’s Volkswagen Beetle that had somehow not found their way to the bank yet.

Sharon graduated from the University of Utah in 1970 with a degree in accounting while working part-time at the Tiffin Room in downtown SLC. Sharon was really good with taxes and especially good at math. She once told her dear friend, Lori Dosen, “I like numbers; numbers and I get along.”   

Sharon started her professional career in 1970 working as a cost analyst for Univac. She subsequently worked as an accountant for BH Rogers & Associates, JJ Johnson & Associates, Peppertree Kitchen and Bath, Uniglobe Peregrine Travel, and Salt Lake County’s property tax relief division. She also prepared taxes at H&R Block in a low-income neighborhood; it was a job she truly loved because she was helping people.

Sharon had a warm heart, valued kindness to others, and tried to do something every day to make the world a better place. Like her own mother, Sharon was caring and concerned about everyone around her. She would do anything for her kids or anyone else she knew. She made everyone felt that they mattered.

Her door was always open for Jean and Paul’s friend on weekends and after school. She maintained a kitchen full of snacks for her kids and their friends. She cared for all of Jean’s friends like they were her own daughters. Her home was always open for people enduring hardships and on the holidays for anyone who didn’t have a place to go. She took care of everyone at the house and made them feel safe and comfortable.

She had a genuine kindness and never expected anything in return. She helped take care of niece, Kate Lepley, when Joan Lepley got into a bad car wreck and then gave Joan rides to and from work while she was recovering. Sharon was always so generous and grateful to help. 

Sharon had infinite patience, whether it was chasing young Patrick and Jake and Rawl Wharton under the tables with Gayen Wharton at a Sal Lake Tribune Christmas party or dealing with a combative daughter during Jean’s junior high years. 

Sharon took Paul to the doctor once a week and hospital once every three months for three years while he was having kidney problems. She came home from work one day only to have to take Paul to the hospital because Patrick almost chopped off Paul’s hand off with a snow shovel after he hit Patrick in the face with an iceball.

Sharon rarely got mad and never raised her voice, even after a drinking incident involving one of her two younger children.

Sharon was an immeasurably brave person and accepted the plight of having a stroke and suffering from Parkinson’s disease. She made the best of poor circumstances and could always find humor in bad situations.

Sharon was a great friend to have. She always asked about the families of her friends. She knew how and when to be there as a supportive friend. Sharon gave others their space, but would step in when she saw someone sinking or having a hard time.

Sharon was genuine and not afraid to be real. She was humble, upbeat, gracious, unflappable, unassuming. She was a great listener and very good at raising spirits. Her friends could always depend on her honesty, kindness, and unconditional support.

She was incredibly smart and well read. She could talk to anybody about current events, whether they were local or international.

Sharon was a nurturing caregiver who was passionate about and focused on her kids and made sure they were always OK and on the right track. Sharon was so involved in the lives of her children and supported them in all their activities. She treasured being a mom and was an outstanding mother.

Sharon gave great advice to new moms. She loved sitting on the couch holding babies, recalling her times as a mother, and talking to and seeing the new moms’ young children. And although she nagged her children about not giving her grandkids, she was perfectly proud of them just as they were.

Sharon adored taking her kids to the Korean Market on 15^th an 15^th and watching them push around their toy shopping carts. Sharon loved cooking and meticulously measured and laid out all the ingredients before she mixed them up. Sharon was a great cook and made the best meatloaf, funeral potatoes, and chocolate chip cookies. However, her meatballs could always use more garlic (according to the Italian side of the family).

Sharon loved walking her black labs. Tim originally didn’t want a family dog, but in 1991 Sharon finally softened him up to the idea and Tim eventually broke down, letting the family pick Pudge out of the liter at Pat and Bo’s house. For over 20 years, neighbors regularly saw Sharon on her daily walks with Pudge, Lily, and Molly with the dogs excitedly pulling her up the street. 

Later on in her life, she got into Hallmark Channel movies (sigh), The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, and Deadliest Catch. She loved having dinner in the backyard with Mike and Vicky Murray where they’d laugh and BS forever. She was always elated to get a Wendy’s hamburger and vanilla Frosty and enjoyed them like a little kid. 

Sharon was a big fan of nature and being outside. She loved going for drives with her kids to East Canyon, Strawberry Reservoir, Monte Cristo Loop, Guardsman Pass, Mormon Flats, along the Mirror Lake Highway, through the Uinta Mountains, and up Weber, American Fork, and Ogden Canyons (especially in the fall when the aspens changed colors).

Sharon loved music, especially Jimmy Buffett and Abba. Margaritaville and Dancing Queen were always celebrated during the Kelly family Christmas parties. Sharon learned to love Jimmy Buffett in the early 2000s, went to see him twice in concert, and always demanded his music be played during road trips. 

Although Sharon’s patience knew no end, there were a few things she was not a big fan of. She loved her yellow 1967 Ford Mustang convertible, but couldn’t stand Tim’s green Toyota Land Cruiser in the 1970s, especially when Tim four-wheeled it up Elephant Hill (south of Moab, UT) and Sharon got out and walked due to the overly rugged and dangerous road. She took her gardening very seriously and got pretty fired up when the dogs got caught digging up the flowers in the backyard or when Tim pulled out the Rose of Sharon several times late in his life when he thought it was a weed. Mitt said that Sharon was VERY upset when their father wouldn’t let her go to New York City to see the Beatles in 1965. And sometimes you could actually hear Sharon’s eyes roll after something went well for Tim and he’d say, “It’s because my heart is pure.”

Sharon hated stupidity, hypocrisy, and people who lied, so she was never very fond of the Utah state legislature. She didn’t tolerate swearing, anyone dissing her loved ones, or being bothered before she had her morning coffee. She got slightly upset when the Utah Jazz lost or when she hit a bad golf shot. She got really upset later on in life when she was forced to do her morning PT exercises before getting out of bed, when she was denied a glass of wine before 5:00 PM, or in her final years when Patrick would help Sharon to bed then he’d start to sing and dance to the “So Long, Farewell” song from “The Sound of Music.” 

Sharon got a little grouchy when she got hungry or talked to her friends about not having grandkids. But she loved seeing photos of others people’ grandkids and eventually started a grandchild bounty for her three kids at $10,000 and raised it $10,000 every passing year to tempt them into producing a grandchild for her. One year at a rowdy birthday party for Patrick at Red Lobster, family friend, Dave Hausser, heard for the first time about the grandchild bounty and loudly told Sharon “You’ll have to excuse Jean and I for about 20 minutes, I’m taking her to the bathroom.”

Sharon and Tim enjoyed spending time on the water in their canoe. They once took a trip with Mary and Pat Clark to Shoshone Lake, WY and paddled their two canoes to Lewis Lake via the Lewis River. Unfortunately, the trip was during a drought and paddling meant dragging their canoes through the very low Lewis River like in “African Queen” then paddling their overloaded vessels across Lewis Lake with three inches separating the top of the canoe from the water. One evening on the trip while Tim and Pat were out fishing for dinner in one of the canoes and weren’t catching any fish, Sharon and Mary were having a great time drinking tea laced with Wild Turkey and trying to pull the garbage bag up into the tree to avoid tempting the local grizzly bears while laughing hysterically and having the time of their lives.

Sharon loved traveling with Joan and Kate. Sharon and Joan traveled to New Jersey for Kate’s 2014 NCAA crew championships (which Kate’s team won) and the two showed up to the wrong hotel because they were navigating with a cartoon map instead of a widely available GPS app on their phones. Sharon also introduced Kate to the beauty and windy roads of Mendocino Valley, CA after helping Joan pick up Kate from her Humboldt University graduation and drive her home to SLC. 

Sharon and Joan also seemed to take great pleasure in trying to jokingly embarrass Kate on their vacations. At a family reunion with the Clarks and Kellys at Georgetown Lake, Sharon, Joan, and Bo loudly sang “They Call the Wind Moriah,” which mortified Kate. Another time at Bear Lake, Sharon and Joan embarrassed Kate by singing “My Girl” loudly in the hotel lobby. Sharon also liked to repeatedly ask Kate if she knew that the Shooting Star Saloon in Huntsville was Utah’s oldest bar. Although Kate would disagree, the joke got funnier every time Sharon said it.

Sharon lived a life of service and volunteered every chance she got. She spent 12 years volunteering at the JE Cosgriff Memorial School at the library with Linda Paoletti, on the school’s athletic board, at yard duty and cafeteria duty, and at the big Halloween party every year. She worked at the gift shop at Primary Children’s Hospital once a week for ten years. And Sharon and Tim delivered dinners to AIDS patients through Meals on Wheels for eight years.

When Tim started developing Alzheimer’s and lost the ability to take care of himself in about 2005, Sharon devoted herself to his daily care. Once she could no longer help Tim by herself, and even though it wasn’t easy watching Tim’s continual deterioration, she faithfully visited him every day at his assisted living facility from August 2010 to January 2015 when Tim said goodbye. The depth of her love and never-ending commitment to Tim amazed us all.

After living her life to the fullest and valiantly battling Parkinson’s disease for as long as she could, Sharon passed away on 24 January 2024 after suffering a pulmonary embolism a few days earlier.

Sharon is survived by her children, Patrick, Paul, and Jean; brother, Roger Hawk; brother-in-law, Mike Kelly; sisters-in-law, Joan Lepley, Roberta Kelly, and Cathy Kelly (all of whom Sharon considered actual sisters); nieces, Kate Lepley, Clayton Kienholz, and Elizabeth Kinghorn; nephews, Mike and Tim Kelly; cousin, Hans (Lynn) Deatrick; and Elsie the black lab.

Sharon was preceded in death by her parents, Elsie and Paul Hawk; husband, Tim Kelly; Tim’s parents, Robert and Jean Kelly; brother, Mike Hawk; brothers-in-law, Pat Kelly and Rick Lepley; cats, Bella and Harry The Female Cat; and black labs, Pudge, Lily, and Molly.

The family would like to express our eternal gratitude to the following wonderful caretakers, physical therapists, and medical personnel who helped take care of Sharon and enabled her to stay at her home on Logan Avenue until her passing. Sharon’s primary caregivers were Lisa Ika, Diane Best, Paul Kelly, and Mitt Hawk. Lisa and Diane took such loving and patient care of Sharon over the last five years and spent countless hours making meals, bathing Sharon, entertaining her, and empathetically listening to Sharon express her frustrations about the loss of her independence. 

Paul quit his job in April 2019 to take care of Sharon full-time and put his life on hold for five years, sometimes putting in 80-100 hours a week. He was always calm and kind to Sharon, even when she made him watch Christmas in July movies on the Hallmark Channel and have lunch every Friday at The Point After.

Mitt worked full-time in Park City, UT and still had the energy, patience, and love to come home and take care of his sister several nights a week and on the weekends. Mitt cooked Sharon simple, light, and elegant dinners every night and did ballet and dance in his socks on the hardwood floor to endlessly entertain Sharon while they watched Jazz games and their crime TV shows. Physical therapists, Jannalyn Slack and Brittany Walker, worked Sharon hard and enabled her to maintain her mobility and keep walking with assistance until the end. They were patient and kindhearted saints who were frequently tested by Sharon when she was stubbornly not in the mood for morning PT. Violetta Wharton, Lyra Thatcher, and Vance Woodward also took turns spending significant amounts of time taking tender care of Sharon. Nurse Practitioner Amy Flynn, Dr Steven Edgley, and the folks at the University of Utah Hospital’s Neurology Department tremendously boosted Sharon’s quality of life after her stroke and prolonged Sharon’s life as long as possible.

Sharon’s Celebration of Life is on 30 March 2024 from 6-8 PM at Starks Funeral Parlor in SLC, UT. Guests are encouraged to park on the north side of the building. Please wear bright colors to the Celebration, perhaps a Hawaiian or tie-dye shirt to properly honor Sharon and her love of Jimmy Buffett.   

If you’d like the full version of Sharon’s obituary, please email Patrick Kelly at PatKelly1993@yahoo.com. 

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Sharon Kelly Scholarship for Kindness at JE Cosgriff Memorial Catholic Elementary, 2335 E Redondo Ave, SLC, UT, 84108.

Finally, in the Spirit of Sharon, please understand that everyone goes through hard times at some point in their lives. Be kind to each other. Show empathy and compassion to each other. And be patient with one another. Sharon would like that.