Sharon Haynes Axtell

Sharon, the daughter of Harold Lloyd Haynes and Esther Edna Brauer, was born January 29, 1947, in Dallas, where she was raised.

She received her BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Arlington and, in 1969, started working for the Texas Workforce Commission, where she helped people improve their lives through training and job seeking. While there, she made many lifelong friends. These friends threw the best Christmas parties every year, their children had numerous sleepovers and parties, they volunteered on Boy Scout trips and they went on random adventures. They all cared for and watched over each other, and any weakness of one would be evened by the strength of another.

In 1977, she married her soulmate, James Martin Axtell. James died in 1981, but they had one child together -- a son, James Matthew Axtell, born that same year. Drawing on the lessons of her mother, a patient but strong-willed woman, and her psychology degree, Sharon began her journey into motherhood. She was able to listen to others with an open and giving heart, a gift best demonstrated in her role as a mother. She also surrounded herself with many strong, loving friends whom she immediately put to work helping her raise her only child, “a young man of integrity and distinction.”

Sharon often said one of her greatest challenges in life was to impart patience and strength and good sense to her son. It took many years and many lessons. She dragged him to museums, concerts, camping trips and fun runs. She came home from long days at work and read books with James, helped him with projects and homework and answered his countless questions. She even convinced him to dress up as the Easter Bunny for the children at the Dallas Arboretum. And finally, the patience she showed her son, as well as the many examples of strong, confident women who surrounded them, materialized. In 2010, James married Wendy Diane Coltrane, an independent, vivacious, loving woman. Soon after, James and Wendy had a son, James Madison, and a daughter, Ella McKinley. And Sharon, who had retired 15 years earlier, had two grandchildren to spoil rotten. So she moved to Oak Cliff to be closer to them and watch her son pass on the priceless lessons he’d inherited.

After a life spent helping friends, family and even strangers, Sharon spent her retirement in much the same way. When she wasn’t doting on her grandchildren, she was working with organizations like the Dallas Arboretum and her neighborhood crimewatch, as well as enjoying the company of her ladies lunch groups. They all will miss her company on their adventures and the many stories she told.

She left this world with her brother, Bill Haynes, and her son by her side, both remembering her rule of always saying “I love you” and giving a hug before you go and putting it into practice as she passed.

Sharon is survived by her son, James, his wife, Wendy, and their two children, James and Ella; her brother, Bill, and his wife, Barbara.

The memorial service will take place Sunday, February 19, at 2 p.m. at Sparkman Hillcrest Funeral Home & Memorial Park, 7405 West Northwest Hwy., Dallas, Texas.