Sharon Macdonald, a former Denver elected official and loving mother, grandmother, and sister, died at home surrounded by family while listening to music she loved on Wednesday, October 31, 2018 after a long struggle with lung disease. She was 69 years old.
A Denver native, and third-generation Colorado native, Sharon was born on November 18, 1948, the daughter of John D. Macdonald and Betty Elder. Her father was a U.S. Army Air Force veteran of WWII and a U.S. Air Force veteran of Korea, and was later the youngest person elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1948. He later won a seat on the Denver Election Commission. Her mother was a U.S. Army nurse in WWII close to the front lines in New Guinea and the Phillipines. She was later an adored local elementary school teacher in Denver.
Following in her parents’ footsteps of public service, Sharon was elected to the Denver Election Commission in 1991. In that role, she was an early proponent of voting system modernization. She was passionate about improving access to voting for all persons. She was elected to the Denver School Board in 1997, serving until 2001. Later in her life, she was a familiar face around the Colorado State Capitol, working in the Colorado State Senate.
Sharon attended Abraham Lincoln High School and John F. Kennedy High School in Denver and later earned a degree in Economics from San Francisco State University.
She was an accomplished genealogical researcher. Together with her husband, she discovered and charted many previously unknown lines of ancestors, including Colorado pioneers on both sides of her family. She was a skilled seamstress who taught all four of her children to sew and mend garments to varying degrees. She took great joy in knitting for her children and grandchildren. She was a skilled outdoors-woman and took on leadership and planning roles for her sons’ Boy Scout troop and her daughters’ Girl Scout troop. She rose through the ranks of adult Boy Scout leaders, eventually training other leaders, almost all of them men.
She has been a member of St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church for more than 60 years. During that time she served for many years as Sunday School Superintendent and later Clerk of the Vestry, and was a delegate to the historic Episcopal Synod of America organizational meeting in Fort Worth, TX in 1989.
She married Paul Houston, an officer in the U.S. Navy, in 1977. Together they have four children.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Colorado Lung Association https://www.lung.org/about-us/local-associations/colorado.html and the Society of Mary at St. Michael and All Angels church in Denver, CO http://www.saintmichaelsdenver.org/.
A Denver native, and third-generation Colorado native, Sharon was born on November 18, 1948, the daughter of John D. Macdonald and Betty Elder. Her father was a U.S. Army Air Force veteran of WWII and a U.S. Air Force veteran of Korea, and was later the youngest person elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1948. He later won a seat on the Denver Election Commission. Her mother was a U.S. Army nurse in WWII close to the front lines in New Guinea and the Phillipines. She was later an adored local elementary school teacher in Denver.
Following in her parents’ footsteps of public service, Sharon was elected to the Denver Election Commission in 1991. In that role, she was an early proponent of voting system modernization. She was passionate about improving access to voting for all persons. She was elected to the Denver School Board in 1997, serving until 2001. Later in her life, she was a familiar face around the Colorado State Capitol, working in the Colorado State Senate.
Sharon attended Abraham Lincoln High School and John F. Kennedy High School in Denver and later earned a degree in Economics from San Francisco State University.
She was an accomplished genealogical researcher. Together with her husband, she discovered and charted many previously unknown lines of ancestors, including Colorado pioneers on both sides of her family. She was a skilled seamstress who taught all four of her children to sew and mend garments to varying degrees. She took great joy in knitting for her children and grandchildren. She was a skilled outdoors-woman and took on leadership and planning roles for her sons’ Boy Scout troop and her daughters’ Girl Scout troop. She rose through the ranks of adult Boy Scout leaders, eventually training other leaders, almost all of them men.
She has been a member of St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church for more than 60 years. During that time she served for many years as Sunday School Superintendent and later Clerk of the Vestry, and was a delegate to the historic Episcopal Synod of America organizational meeting in Fort Worth, TX in 1989.
She married Paul Houston, an officer in the U.S. Navy, in 1977. Together they have four children.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Colorado Lung Association https://www.lung.org/about-us/local-associations/colorado.html and the Society of Mary at St. Michael and All Angels church in Denver, CO http://www.saintmichaelsdenver.org/.
Sharon Macdonald, a former Denver elected official and loving mother, grandmother, and sister, died at home surrounded by family while listening to music she loved on Wednesday, October 31, 2018 after a long struggle with lung disease. She was 69 years old.
A Denver native, and third-generation Colorado native, Sharon was born on November 18, 1948, the daughter of John D. Macdonald and Betty Elder. Her father was a U.S. Army Air Force veteran of WWII and a U.S. Air Force veteran of Korea, and was later the youngest person elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1948. He later won a seat on the Denver Election Commission. Her mother was a U.S. Army nurse in WWII close to the front lines in New Guinea and the Phillipines. She was later an adored local elementary school teacher in Denver.
Following in her parents’ footsteps of public service, Sharon was elected to the Denver Election Commission in 1991. In that role, she was an early proponent of voting system modernization. She was passionate about improving access to voting for all persons. She was elected to the Denver School Board in 1997, serving until 2001. Later in her life, she was a familiar face around the Colorado State Capitol, working in the Colorado State Senate.
Sharon attended Abraham Lincoln High School and John F. Kennedy High School in Denver and later earned a degree in Economics from San Francisco State University.
She was an accomplished genealogical researcher. Together with her husband, she discovered and charted many previously unknown lines of ancestors, including Colorado pioneers on both sides of her family. She was a skilled seamstress who taught all four of her children to sew and mend garments to varying degrees. She took great joy in knitting for her children and grandchildren. She was a skilled outdoors-woman and took on leadership and planning roles for her sons’ Boy Scout troop and her daughters’ Girl Scout troop. She rose through the ranks of adult Boy Scout leaders, eventually training other leaders, almost all of them men.
She has been a member of St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church for more than 60 years. During that time she served for many years as Sunday School Superintendent and later Clerk of the Vestry, and was a delegate to the historic Episcopal Synod of America organizational meeting in Fort Worth, TX in 1989.
She married Paul Houston, an officer in the U.S. Navy, in 1977. Together they have four children.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Colorado Lung Association https://www.lung.org/about-us/local-associations/colorado.html and the Society of Mary at St. Michael and All Angels church in Denver, CO http://www.saintmichaelsdenver.org/.
A Denver native, and third-generation Colorado native, Sharon was born on November 18, 1948, the daughter of John D. Macdonald and Betty Elder. Her father was a U.S. Army Air Force veteran of WWII and a U.S. Air Force veteran of Korea, and was later the youngest person elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1948. He later won a seat on the Denver Election Commission. Her mother was a U.S. Army nurse in WWII close to the front lines in New Guinea and the Phillipines. She was later an adored local elementary school teacher in Denver.
Following in her parents’ footsteps of public service, Sharon was elected to the Denver Election Commission in 1991. In that role, she was an early proponent of voting system modernization. She was passionate about improving access to voting for all persons. She was elected to the Denver School Board in 1997, serving until 2001. Later in her life, she was a familiar face around the Colorado State Capitol, working in the Colorado State Senate.
Sharon attended Abraham Lincoln High School and John F. Kennedy High School in Denver and later earned a degree in Economics from San Francisco State University.
She was an accomplished genealogical researcher. Together with her husband, she discovered and charted many previously unknown lines of ancestors, including Colorado pioneers on both sides of her family. She was a skilled seamstress who taught all four of her children to sew and mend garments to varying degrees. She took great joy in knitting for her children and grandchildren. She was a skilled outdoors-woman and took on leadership and planning roles for her sons’ Boy Scout troop and her daughters’ Girl Scout troop. She rose through the ranks of adult Boy Scout leaders, eventually training other leaders, almost all of them men.
She has been a member of St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church for more than 60 years. During that time she served for many years as Sunday School Superintendent and later Clerk of the Vestry, and was a delegate to the historic Episcopal Synod of America organizational meeting in Fort Worth, TX in 1989.
She married Paul Houston, an officer in the U.S. Navy, in 1977. Together they have four children.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Colorado Lung Association https://www.lung.org/about-us/local-associations/colorado.html and the Society of Mary at St. Michael and All Angels church in Denver, CO http://www.saintmichaelsdenver.org/.
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