Sharon P Schutz

Sharon P Schutz, age 73, of Clinton, passed away Saturday evening Nov. 3 at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown. Daughter of the late Paul and Evelyn Stanek, formerly from Middletown, she was the beloved wife of Richard P Schutz for 54 years, and is survived by her brother David and Marge Stanek from North Canton Ohio, her brother Paul and Velda Stanek from Springfield Missouri, her son Kory and Sara Schutz from Moodus, CT, her daughter Kalli Schutz from Clinton, CT, her son Kevin and Erica Schutz from Lancaster, PA, her daughter Kalyn Schutz from Clinton, and her cherished grandchildren Ben, Heather, and Tai who always brought a smile to her face.

Her hobbies were cooking and baking, knitting and crochet, reading books, writing poetry, and watching her husband try to garden. She loved flowers like lilacs, gladiolas, and peonies. Her favorite thing to collect was frogs, but she enjoyed ducks, geese, and Precious Moments angels.

Sharon always made sure you knew what she liked. And she liked a lot of things. Freshly fried seafood, pickles, olives, garden-fresh cherry tomatoes, Cadillacs, chocolate cherries, red licorice, scented candles, her dogs, and mercilessly teasing you until you were red with embarrassment.

Sharon had few jobs more important to her than raising her children and her grandchildren. She worked as a department store clerk as a teenager in Middletown, later as a bank teller and accountant supporting her husband while he finished college. When certain years were lean, she took a job at Deep River Pizza, and was a server at many catering jobs, often at the Elks Lodge in Middletown.

Along with being a wife, mother, and "Grammy", she was a Cub Scout Den Mother for her sons, and a Girl Scout Group Leader for her daughters. She volunteered as a PTA member to improve Clinton's schools. Most of Sharon's life she was concerned most about others, and would often take a person under her wing. She was a woman who had experienced her own dark days, but who had done her best to put them behind her. She had 36 years of sobriety and always drank nonalcoholic sparkling cider at the holidays. She was a sponsor of recovering alcoholics, attending innumerable meetings in Westbrook and other Shoreline towns. She even read many counseling books to improve her knowledge and abilities to help people in AA, Ala-teen and Al-anon.

Sharon was very popular with other kids in her neighborhood on Kelseytown Road. Our house and yard were fully open for any of her children's friends. Pickup basketball, and softball were often held in our yard. Sometimes Mom would even play softball with us. She was a tenacious competitor and would often hit the ball further than expected. But because of her participation and care with our friends lives, Mrs. Schutz often became Mom to the neighborhood kids. There were even times we would wake up and find out that one of our friends “ran away” from home because of family problems. Mom was always there to help them through it.

Sharon invested her most valuable resource - her life, her tears, her love - in SOOOOOO many people over the years. Loving deposits into people's present time and into their futures. She was a hospice homecare volunteer doing things for patients, rather I should say friends, that they couldn't do for themselves. To Sharon, complex ideas like love and compassion were completely simple and natural. Love and compassion were tangible elements that existed in words and in her eyes. When words failed, her presence was a steadfast comfort even in silence.

Usually shy in public, she often hid her light under the proverbial basket and would be dismissive of praise for her actions. Neither would she accept criticism against any of her family or close friends, such was her protectiveness and respect for the potential growth of every individual. A good life, too short, which while touching many people, she never ran short of love to give.

Visitation will be held on Thursday, November 8th from 6:00PM to 8:00PM at the Swan Funeral Home, 80 E Main Street in Clinton. The funeral service will held Friday, November 9th at 11:00AM. Burial will immediately follow at the Beaver Brook Cemetery, Route 145, in Clinton. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Salvation Army, or the American Cancer Society.