Sharon E. Johnson

Sharon was born on the last day of 1936 to parents Ralph Philip Long and Ethel Blanche (Fry) Long in Grant County, Wisconsin, near Fennimore. She was the oldest of four children. Her three brothers Stan, Loren and Philip Long predeceased her. In 1955 Sharon graduated Roosevelt High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and later received a BA in Music Education from Coe College.

She subsequently earned an MA degree in Elementary Education at Murray State College in Murray, Kentucky and an MA in Special Education at University of Missouri, Kansas City. On April 15, 1961, Sharon married the late E. Dean Johnson. After several moves, they settled in Independence, Missouri in 1967, and Sharon resided there the rest of her life. She taught hundreds of elementary and kindergarten children over 30 years in the Hickman Mills school district.

After retirement, Sharon taught at the Sunshine Center in Independence for over ten years, and homeschooled her youngest grandchild for a year. Sharon had a lifelong interest in music, nurtured early in life by her parents and siblings. After high school band and college, her first job was teaching music in Kentucky. We remember how she always liked to sing along whenever show tunes or musicals were being played.

In later years, Sharon participated in area community chiors and played piano at home for her own enjoyment. She donated her bassoon, which she had owned since college, to William Chrisman High School in Independence.

After her husband passed away in 2005, Sharon moved to the Fountains at Greenbrier in Independence and enjoyed playing cards and putting together puzzles with her friends. She organized the residents' birthday committee and she was a founding member of the group that sewed bears to be donated to children's hospitals.

Sharon took great pride in being a partner in the family business, Silver Heart Inn Bed & Breakfast. In her gentle way, she provided wonderful insight and marketing advice to improve services and amenities.

Sharon is survived by her son and his wife, Perry and Melanie Johnson of Independence; five grandchildren and one great grandchild. We rejoice that the family was able to be with Sharon in her last hours. Always a teacher, Sharon taught us dignity and strength. We will miss our mother, grandmother, silent partner and friend; yet we know that she is in a better place.

Services will be at a later date.