Obituary of Sharron E. Riise

Sharron turned off the lights and went home after a monumental tussle with a tenacious pancreatic cancer which went on for a grueling five years. Even her doctors admitted that they had never seen such grit and determination as Sharron showed. Born smart from a small town in South Dakota, she was not only the first to graduate in her family from college, but did it with honors and a Phi Beta Kappa Key form the University of South Dakota. Later she received advanced degrees from colleges in Iowa and Texas. She also was the recipient of four scholarships from the National Endowment fo the Humanities for summer study programs, including one to Harvard to study in the Celtic language department. Eventually, Sharron settled in Tucson and had a long and distinguished career as a librarian in TUSD where she spearheaded the computerization of the library system. This was not easy to do, to move an intransigent administration to new vistas. To unloose the money and the prevailing attitudes, Sharron made herself a burr under the saddle. So, with extraordinary pluck tempered with heart, she and her fellow librarians prevailed. Those who knew Sharron best knew her to be a spirited and spunky woman with courage to burn, but also with an extraordinary large measure of compassion and goodness to the core. She volunteered often and much, mainly at the Primavera Foundation where her charge was to find boots, and shoes for the poor in our community. Sharron was predeceased by her parents, Joyce (Lane) and Norman Enstrom and her sister, Karen. Sharron left the lights on for her husband of 48 years, Milton; her son, Sam (Morgan); two grandchildren, Alyssa and Christopher James and her siblings, Sue, Ruthie and Floyd; plus the fine folks as Grace St. Paul's Episcopal Church who prayed with her and for her. We will say a final good-bye to this remarkable lady on Saturday, June 30, 2018 at 10:00 am in the open arms of Grace St. Paul's Church as 2331 E. Adams St. Remembrances can be directed to Primavera Foundation (151 W. 40th St., Tucson, AZ 85713) or Grace St. Paul's. Arrangements by Adair Funeral Home, Dodge Chapel.