Her life began in San Francisco on Thursday, 23 December 1965.  Sharon Lee McWhorter was born to Vicki Graham during the Christmas holidays.  A premature baby, weighing just 5 lbs, her mother always fondly recalled how she had Christmas dinner in the hospital during those first days.

Sharon lived with her mother and grandparents, Edgar Allen Graham and Alberta “Billie” Ryan Graham, for the first four years of her life on 45th Avenue and Balboa in the Outer Richmond district of San Francisco. Her mother then married Bok Chin in 1969, after which the family moved to San Mateo for just over a year and a half.  In 1971, the family then moved to Redwood City, where her brother, Bruce, was born the following year.

It was in Redwood City where Sharon would continue the family tradition, started by her maternal grandfather in the 1950s when he owned two roller skating rinks in Oregon, one in Ashland and the other in Medford.  Sharon’s love of artistic roller skating was a lifelong passion, beginning at Redwood Roller Rink when she was a little girl taking lessons from her coach, and later lifelong friend, Tommy Andrew.  She competed in freestyle and had many friends there.   It was here, through the artistic roller skating club, where her love of the arts, music and all things beautiful blossomed, alongside those things she learned from her maternal grandfather, her beloved Gramps.

In 1978, the family moved to San Jose, where she briefly took lessons at Aloha Roller Palace and competed under the coaching of Irene Miller.  To those of you unfamiliar with artistic roller skating, this type of skating is what you normally see at the Olympics on ice, only unsung, extremely under-recognised, and more difficult given the heavier weight of four wheels, plates, trucks and bearings on each skate.  Sharon loved attending the annual Gold Skate event in Bakersfield, and later Fresno. This three-day event was a “pageantry on wheels,” where artistic roller skaters, from across the US Southwest region, would congregate to perform in single, group and large production numbers with elaborate costumes and scenery.  She would have a special attachment to Redwood Roller Rink throughout her life up until its unfortunate closure, after 60 years, in 2017.

Sharon was always extremely close with her maternal grandfather, Gramps.  During her late teenage years, amidst the difficulties she faced following the move to San Jose, she moved to San Francisco in 1982 and lived with her grandfather on Geary Boulevard near Union Square.  Sharon and he formed a special bond from an early age.  They loved and understood one another on a level that most families could only hope for.  She and Gramps, as she always knew him, would visit his siblings and their extended family in New Castle, Pennsylvania, not far from where he grew up.  Sharon visited there from a young age, and subsequently developed a special fondness for Pennsylvania, eventually living there for a few years in her late teens before returning to California.  It was there that Sharon learned how to cook the most delicious, hearty traditional American meals from her Aunt June and Uncle Joe.  Gramps eventually returned to California to rejoin Sharon in the late 1980s to live in San Francisco.

In 1987, Sharon met Eric Venn in San Francisco. They would live together from 1988 in San Francisco and eventually buy a house together in Vallejo in 1989, where they lived and welcomed in Gramps. They married in 1999 in Vallejo during a small, intimate ceremony and celebrated their union at the Cliff House in San Francisco with the diverse group of friends she always revered for their colourful nature and, above all, their kindness, which meant more than anything.  Sharon was firmly committed to looking after Gramps the same way that he looked after her.  She, Eric and Bruce took care of Gramps in his final days before he passed away of lung cancer in 2002 at age 90.  This was a massive loss to Sharon that left a permanent gap.

In 2006, Sharon and Eric welcomed an addition to the family, with a baby girl, Heather Chase.  She was always very proud of Chase and always wanted the best for her.  Chase’s stellar achievements in school were a source of great pride for Sharon and it was her wish to see Chase be the successful person we’re seeing today. In later years, she had the chance to meet and reconcile with her biological father, Thomas McWhorter. She had the privilege of meeting him a few times and visited shortly before his own passing in 2017.

During her working life, Sharon was dedicated, passionate and threw herself into everything she did to the fullest. Whether she was working as an administrator, a professional masseur, working in catering and hospitality, or developing her skills as a baker, in line with her culinary mastery, she was always hardworking and diligent, perhaps even to her detriment.  All this was done, while balancing her time as a mother and friend to many.

Sharon was intelligent, outgoing and extremely conscientious.  She was athletic growing up and enjoyed tennis, swimming and visiting the gym.  She always strove to improve herself and was just turning her life around for the better in the last few years before being summoned for a higher calling.  She attended numerous classes at San Francisco City College and later at Contra Costa College where her ongoing pursuit of higher education was a passion in its own right.

Sharon is survived by Chase, her husband, Eric, her mother, Vicki, her father, Bok, and brother, Bruce.  She will be deeply missed and we will forever remember her strength, courage and love.

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