The Passing of My Sister

On the morning of September 19th I received a message from a close friend of my sister Sharon Drew Dunn who lives near her in Meridian, Idaho.  Paul Peebles let me know that she had passed away during the night.  She had not been feeling well and he took her to the hospital on Sunday evening.  They evaluated and gave her some treatments to help her with her congestive heart failure, but didn't feel she needed to be admitted.  Paul called her the next morning, but no answer so he went over to check on her and found that she had passed during the night.

That is the sad news, but I chose to not focus of that but to focus on the love and joy she brought to everyone.

Sharon, and my other sister Vicki Moniz, and I have a very different relationship.  We actually didn't meet each other until we were adults and had families of our own.  The long and short of it is that my biological mother Norma Mae Woolsey, was married to their father John Drew, before she was married to my father, Elmer Struempler.  I was unaware of this previous marriage and children until I was a senior in high school.  In a conversation with Norma late in the summer of 1976 I was able to get enough information to be able to locate both Sharon and Vicki.  Sharon was in Williston, ND, and Vicki was in Eva Beach, HI.  About a year later I was able to meet Sharon face to face for the first time and, lets just say, it was a long overdue family reunion.  I met Vicki face to face in 1979,  Since that moment, my two sisters have been an important part of my life.  They have been a blessing that I would not have even dared to dream of.

If you ever saw the three of us together, you would immediately know that we were related.  We have tried our best to make up for lost time.

Now comes the time to say goodbye to Sharon.  It is a sad time, but also a joyous time, knowing that she has now joined her sweet husband Mike who left us a few years ago.  I know that she is happy to be with him again, together in the Kingdom of our Heavenly Father.

Here are just a few pictures that I have pulled up of such a wonderful sister, mother, and wife.

 She loved the slots!!

In addition to her siblings, she left behind 4 wonderful children that any mom would be proud to call their own.  My thoughts and prayers go out to them as the mourn the loss of their mother.

I would be remise in the honoring of this great sister, if I didn't say a huge thank you to her close friend, neighbor and brother in spirit, Paul Pebbles.  After Mike's passing, Paul was a rock and a support to Sharon, and a comfort to me knowing that there was someone really close by who cared for her like family.  Thank you Paul for all that you did.

At this time I say goodbye to my sweet sister with the absolute assurance that I will see her again as we are rejoined as a family in the Celestial Kingdom with our Heavenly Father and our brother Jesus Christ.