Sharon King Sullivan

Once on the far side of yesterday there was an exceptionally pretty girl with a sense of beauty, fashion, and love. She lived a life that was rich in friends, filled with a loving family, and more accessories than anyone could inventory. This is her story.

Sharon Lee Beeler King Sullivan was born in 1933 in Cincinnati Ohio to D.W. Beeler and Stella Osmanski. Sharon‘s father was a farm realtor in Cincinnati. She had a wonderfully close relationship with her mother, and they enjoyed shopping downtown and going to movies together. Sharon‘s mother was a gifted seamstress and could copy anything they saw in a film or on a mannequin in a store window. Sharon’s love for clothing and fashion continued to stimulate the economy until her dying day. Sharon’s mother Stella and her sister were orphans raised by the Sisters of the Poor in Providence, Rhode Island. Drilled in posture and manners by the nuns, Sharon’s mother and aunt instilled in her the marvelous sense of poise and refinement she possessed.

Young Sharon spent golden days in Hyde Park, Ohio with her loving Aunt Helen and Uncle Lin and cousins Ken, Barry, Lenny, Carol Marie, and Pam.

In the summers Sharon would travel to visit her father’s sister Ethel Ashenbach in Amelia, Ohio. They were the first family to have a phone in the county. Aunt Ethel was quite proper, but with an artistic flair. Her house, which once belonged to Senator Kern of Ohio, was filled with paintings and elegant furnishings, and was often used for entertaining. Sharon loved to help clean her Aunt’s beautiful things and to hear the stories behind each piece. A foundation made of gracious hospitality, an appreciation of theatre, and a passion for fine things was laid here. Her Aunt Ethel also taught her the art of writing notes. Sharon’s penmanship was exquisite – her spelling, not so much!

Sharon’s high school years were high-spirited fun; she was active in a sorority, engaged in all sorts of school activities, and was a beauty with all the male attention that drew at Withrow High. Then came a very tough ask: Sharon’s father the farm realtor, had always dreamed of owning a gentleman’s farm and just before her senior year he found one that her mother couldn’t wait to decorate. In a selfless act she agreed to be transferred from her school in the city with a class of over 400, to the graduating class of Fayetteville High, which had 14 – including Sharon.

The summer of that difficult move, Sharon attended her cousin Ken Recker’s wedding to Rosemary King and met Walter “Tony” King. Just like in a classic movie, Sharon dropped her handkerchief and Tony picked it up. Or at least that is the family folklore.

The King family-owned King Bag and Manufacturing Company, a venture that continues today in other hands, as one of the oldest businesses in Cincinnati.

After a swift romance, the couple announced their engagement and plans for a wedding got underway. Suddenly Tony’s widowed mother, Babe King, announced her own engagement to be married and suggested they that the two couples go on their honeymoons together. Now for the good part: the next day the Society page headline read “Mother and Son Wed.”

Sharon and Tony married in Kentucky and drove to Florida for their Honeymoon-in-law extravaganza. It was on this adventure that Sharon’s prim and proper sensibilities collided with the fun-loving Kings, and nothing was ever quite the same.

The very social couple set up a household in Madeira, Ohio but with the arrival of three children, Kathy, Whitey, and Chris they moved the clan to Glen Este. The young parents quickly got involved in the community and before long Sharon was President of the PTA. She also started a supper club that met once-a-month to try different themes and cuisines. This was the perfect venue for Sharon’s creative approach to entertaining – whether it was an Asian- inspired Chinese dinner with guests sitting on silk pillows sipping Sake, or music and dancing on the lower level, Vegas-style, it was always over-the-top and well received. In 1968 the community recognized her many contributions with the Outstanding Young Woman of the Year award.

As the children grew older, Sharon’s focus on education led the family to move to Indian Hill for the good schools. She continued to be involved in community activities and philanthropic events and had the good fortune of her mother’s help to make such a busy life possible. With her gift for creating art-filled interiors, Sharon arranged the 14--room home with beautiful pieces and created an exquisite home for her family. She helped Tony start his own family-owned business, The King Power Cleaning Company.

After 25 years of marriage, Sharon and Tony divorced. It was a devastating and frightening time for a woman who had been defined as a mother, wife, and volunteer. She quickly learned that a divorced woman was not welcomed at the country club, in her social community, or even by the church. The velvet rope went up in front of everything.

Barred from the life she knew Sharon enrolled in community college and honed the skills needed to enter the workforce. She found she could manage a job just as she had managed the PTA. In one of her early positions, she met her sister-in-law to be, Corky Sullivan.

Sharon had very little experience with dating and after 25 years of marriage she was afraid to try again. Corky arranged a blind date with Vincent Bernard Sullivan. Vince was a graduate of Notre Dame and the previous vice president of Owens Illinois Chicago, but had struggled with addiction. Sharon was fascinated by his intellect and stories and came to believe in and love him. Prospect House, a recovery center, was instrumental in Vince’s sobriety, and became a very important institution to the couple. They were married in the chapel at Prospect House and Sharon helped Vince reconnect with his four children: Kathy, Shannon, Kevin, and Colleen.

Sharon became a part of the children’s lives and folded them warmly into the new family. She was blessed with grandchildren through this marriage and has loved them each since the day they were born.

Vince decided to use his management skills in combination with his new sobriety to devote his career to the recovery field. Sharon and Vince move to St. Louis Missouri where Vince was recruited as a hospital administrator with CommCare.

Vince would often say that he had experienced the world in black and white until Sharon showed him all the colors in the world around him. He described Sharon’s arrival like the moment in The Wizard of Oz when the black and white becomes Technicolor. With that sort of love and appreciation they enjoyed more than 25 years together.

Exploring St. Louis, Sharon went to work for an interior design firm and within a year started her own company, Bernard Interiors, specializing in corporate offices. She was instrumental in saving and restoring the historic Shawn Mansion and repurposing it as the headquarters for CommCare. This is where she was able to greet Nancy Reagan when she visited the hospital promoting the “Just Say No to Drugs” campaign.

Years later when Vince retired, Sharon closed her business and they moved back to Cincinnati. Vince enjoyed retirement, but it was not for Sharon! At 70 she had the energy and vision to become a personal stylist before anyone in Cincinnati had realized they needed one. Her business grew and she partnered with cosmetic companies to provide the models for fragrance launches.

As Sharon’s mother Stella began to suffer from dementia and required more attention, Sharon stepped away from the business. It was her turn to care for the woman who had been so nurturing and devoted, and she did so with love. On a random occasion of being shown rental property, she called the management company and told them she could handle customers much more effectively. They offered her a job on the spot, and she moved into the more flexible property management field. With her polished social skills and keen sense of curiosity Sharon could engage anyone – from real estate customers to the person standing next to her in line at the grocery store.

After Vincent passed away Sharon moved to Columbus, Ohio finally ready for a life of leisure. Her children enjoyed spoiling her and having time with her. She volunteered at the German Village Society, still serving her community just as the 1968 Young Woman of the Year had.

It was amazing to all that at 87 years old she had friends on Facebook from all over the world and would FaceTime with them, making the most of the connections during the pandemic.

Every time we think of her story, it seems to become more and more charming, for it is with stories that things once taken for granted, when the rivers were made of chocolate and wishes could come true, are now such marvels that one can hardly imagine how the pieces all fell into place just so. Sharon Lee Beeler King Sullivan could not help but create beauty anymore than she could keep from sparking the best in others because she believed in them with all her heart. We were ever so lucky to belong to her.

The family wishes memorial contributions be made to Prospect House, 682 Hawthorne Avenue

Cincinnati, OH 45205. 513-921-1613