Sharron Leigh Cooney

Sharron moved to Southern Michigan with her mother in 1943, where she subsequently attended a one-room country school, a boarding school in South Bend, IN, high school in Cassopolis, MI, then freshman year at Texas Women’s Univ. in Denton, TX, finishing her education at Western Michigan Univ. in Kalamazoo, MI.

After college she moved to San Diego (Pacific Beach) in 1962 and began her career as a legal secretary and later a paralegal. She married and divorced twice before going to work at the Municipal Court, where she met and married Judge Robert J. Cooney.

In 1989, the Cooneys retired to their Lake Cuyamaca home. Unfortunately, and too soon, Judge Cooney died in June 1990. Sharron then began many years of volunteer work. First, returning to the courthouse, then the Julian Chamber of Commerce, the Cuyamaca Volunteer Fire Department and the Julian Triangle Club (serving as club President for 4 years and performing in the Apple Days Melodrama for 19 years).

She thoroughly loved and enjoyed life, traveling often to the British Isles, most of Europe, So. America, Hawaii, Mexico and all but two of the United States. Her favorite holiday was Christmas and it usually took four days to decorate EVERY room in the house. Her gourmet dinners, Mardi Gras and Kentucky Derby parties will be missed by all who knew her.

After losing her home in the 2003 Cedar Fire (and then rebuilding in 2005), she remained in Cuyamaca for another 10 years. She sold her home in 2015 and moved to her Baja beach house, where she often said, “Life was perfect.”

Having won her battles with stage 4 cancer in 2006, breast cancer in 2018, and a third bout with cancer in 2020 (as well as struggling with diabetes for 16 years), on the advice of her doctors, she moved back to San Diego, settling at Casa Aldea in University City and later at Waterford Terrace in La Mesa.

She was extremely proud of her family and their many accomplishments: son Eric Rapp, daughters Jennifer Rapp and Elizabeth Renshaw; her granddaughters, Dr. Maisie Rapp and Dr. Savannah Morgan, all of whom survive. Her beloved grandson, Jordan Johnson, predeceased her in 2021. Her companions, Richard Rose and 12-year-old terrier, Chloe, also survive.

Interment will be at Glen Abbey in Bonita with her grandson and a memorial will be held at 2 p.m. on April 17th at Waterford Terrace, 5580 Aztec Drive, La Mesa. In lieu of flowers, donations to ASPCA would be appreciated.