We recently received this notice from Chuck Munson about the passing of our classmate, Sharon Bell

“Sharon A. Cavell, 77, a resident of Wenatchee, passed away on Sunday, September 11, 2022.”

That’s the full 2022 “obituary.” Nothing more said.

An older photo, however, was added by a cousin. In it was Sharon Bell. I knew Sharon Bell’s married name was Cavell.

I’m reminded of the stanza from the old Yale anthem,

We will serenade our Louie while life and voice shall last
Then we'll pass and be forgotten with the rest.

The Sharon BelI we knew could never be that easily forgotten.

Sharon always brought light into the room. Sharon being warm and constantly upbeat was remarkable because life was sometimes hard for Sharon. I met her first husband in 1967 when I was stationed in Long Beach. I met her last husband in 1989. I didn’t meet other husbands but knew the one who loved and cherished Sharon was named Cavell. He tragically died during their marriage.

In the mid-1980s I reconnected with Sharon fortuitously when calling a bank on a job I was doing, and Sharon answered the phone. A happy moment. She was a branch manager for Key Bank. Later she managed the Kirkland HomeStreet Bank branch. When I was considering asking future wife Wendy for her hand in marriage thirty-three years ago, I had Sharon and her new/last husband over for dinner. I wanted Sharon’s opinion. She approved and encouraged. Good advice. Sharon and Wendy became close.

While still in a marital relationship with her last husband, she told him she was going to change her last name back to Cavell, an act that said much about both Mr. Cavell and her last husband.

Another consequential letter from Sharon much later told us she had a brain tumor which gave her a 10% chance of survival. But she had survived. Being Sharon, while going through the ordeal she never said anything. I should add that during the ordeal her last husband left her. Quite a man. On the other hand, maybe that helped her recover.

About twenty years ago Sharon and I were to have lunch together at a Mexican restaurant on Bel-Red Rd. in Bellevue. She didn’t show. I called her. She said she went to the wrong restaurant. We rescheduled. She postponed. Indefinitely. I never saw her again. I got the feeling that she wanted to see me but didn’t want me to see her, that she wanted to be remembered as she once was.

Prior to my recent discovery that she had passed away, the last address I had for her was in south Everett. I subsequently sent Christmas cards and encouraged a get-together. Never heard back. Why she matriculated to Wenatchee I don’t know. Her parents were gone. My guess would be her daughter and grandchildren were there. Toward the end, they may have been all she had. But, again, I don’t know. I wish I did.

In summary, Sharon was sensitive, intuitive, kind, loving, giving, bright, a person of strong character and, with her sense of humor, if still with us, would laugh and ask who I was just describing.

Perhaps there is an obituary somewhere that gives details of a life well-lived and a friend much appreciated. Perhaps not. Either way, please share your memories of Sharon, a dear companion who could never be easily forgotten.