Sharon L. Little, age 75, of Owosso, passed away Saturday, May 30, 2015, at her home.

Funeral services will be held 11 a.m. Thursday, June 4, 2015, at Nelson-House Funeral Home, Owosso, with Rev. Dr. James Kent officiating. The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 2-8 p.m. on Wednesday.

Sharon was born on June 27, 1939, to Madeline and Joseph Fischer in Atchison County, Mo. She was the first of four children; she has a sister, Judy Binder, of Lakewood, Colo.; brothers, Martin Fischer of Garden City, Mo., and Nicky Fischer, of Estes Park, Colo.

She married Ray McNew in 1958, and became a sailors wife for 19 years. She had three children: Kimberly, Jeffrey and Cynthia McNew.

She lived in Virginia and Guantanamo Bay and came to Owosso in the late 1960s when her husband became a recruiter. She was active in the community and was a Cub Scout den mother. She worked at Cunninghams Drugs and became a meter maid for the city of Owosso in the early 1970s.

Sharon applied to the city for the position of police officer when it hired several new police officers on the Civilian Employment and Training Act, a federal program. She was not hired even though she had scored higher than some of the men on the test. It was necessary for her to sue the city under Title 9 to be hired. She attended the Lansing Community College Police Academy while she took care of three children. She worked as a patrol office for 24 years, mostly night shift. In the early 1990s she became day shift Sergeant and because of her proven investigative skills she was moved to the position of Detective Sergeant. As a detective, she worked out of the Sheriffs office as part of the investigative pool. She worked on child molestation, murder and other felony crimes throughout the county. She was detective for the last six years of her 31 year employment and retired in 2003.

In 1984, she married Max Little, and was a bride and wife for 31 years. In 2007, they moved to Mesquite, Nev., where she enjoyed an active social life of Canasta and cards and physical activities of hiking and water aerobics. She suffered a massive stroke in 2011 and recovered in rehabilitation centers in St. George, Utah and Mesquite and returned to Owosso in 2012, where she resided until her death. She was a member of the Corunna Rotary, F.O.P. lodge 137 and Desert Dames of Mesquite, the red hat group Gone With The Wind of Oakley, and the Red Hat Divas of Mesquite.

She is survived by: her husband, Max Little; former husband, Ray McNew; and her children, Kimberly Sodman (Jack), Jeff McNew (Lora) and Cynthia McNew. Also surviving her are grandchildren: Kacie Sodman, of Owosso, Jeffrey McNew, of Tennessee; and great-grandchildren, Macen Brown, Blayk and Bentley Nalley.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at nelson-house.com. As published in the St. Joseph News-Press.