‘The story of a strong and loving woman’
LACONIA ---- Sharon Florence Skelley, a resident of the Taylor Community in Laconia, NH, passed away peacefully on
Thursday, January 16, 2025, at the age of 79.
Sharon was known for her deep devotion to her family, friends, faith and commitment to the Good Shepherd Church in Laconia. She was born on April 10, 1945, in Baltimore, Maryland. Sharon was raised in a loving home by her grandmother, where she learned the values and morals which made her strong, loving, kind and resilient.
Sharon graduated with her cosmetology license in high school in 1963 and was working as a hairdresser when she met the love of her life, Ed Skelley. Although he was a neighbor, living only a few miles away, she met him on a chance encounter while leaving a local movie theater with her cousin. Sharon and Ed enjoyed a one-year whirlwind dating and were married on June 13, 1965. These two love birds spent years building a family and Sharon was the epitome of a devoted wife and mother.
Sharon and Ed started growing their family with the births of three children. Sharon adored being home with her children and Ed grew with National Gypsum Company in many managerial roles. The family would travel with Ed and his many job transfers within his long career, and Sharon always rolled with the punches. Sharon and Ed moved from Baltimore to Portsmouth/Rochester, NH, to Sweetwater, TX, to Phoenix, AZ to Tawas, MI, Tampa, FL, and finally back to Baltimore. During their years of many moves, Sharon loved being home with her three children, Stephanie, Marie and Christopher.
Beyond her love of her family time, Sharon adored her many dog fur babies over the years, and she enjoyed socializing with friends and family, doing crafts, traveling to the ocean, trips to Disney World and her love for Ocean City, MD and the beach. As their children grew older, Sharon and Ed became snowbirds and enjoyed splitting their years between the family compound in Gilmanton, NH and Florida. The family was blessed to have raised children and grandchildren within a private road and 86-acre compound. There they had a very special, 4 lot subdivision, and they shared their love between all the kids. They named this street Skelley Manor Road. At one time, all of Sharon and Ed's children and grandchildren were living on this road simultaneously. The family currently spends holidays at this special family homestead as their daughter Stephanie still keeps the compound love alive with her home. Sharon and Ed moved to Taylor Woodside in June 2020, and then started the downsizing when transitioning to apartment living. The two would travel back and forth to Florida and the family was split between the two states. Their daughter Marie and granddaughter Abi would be with the two during the cold New Hampshire winters as they made their home in Florida, and Stephanie would be waiting at the family homestead while Christopher waited in his home in Portsmouth for the summer months.
The family continued to grow with 8 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. Sharon always found special time for her grandbabies and made sure they always knew her as "Mom Mom". She brought humor and joy into their lives with her spunk and spirit.
Sharon struggled greatly with her health since her heart attack and open-heart bypass surgery in 1991. While Sharon continued to persevere through healing from the bypass surgery, she also had a major surgery with her back. She had to be brought back to life with the use of a defibrillator, cheating death again. In addition, Sharon was a heart transplant survivor of thirteen years as well as a breast cancer survivor. In 2017, Sharon began the decline of her leg strength with muscle atrophy and she ended up having to endure kidney dialysis as her body was just not able to hold up with all the heart rejection struggles. She fought endlessly for the past seven years with having to use a wheelchair and battling the muscle atrophy in her legs and body. Sharon faced the unimaginable with her health and she survived what is considered by most as not humanly possible. She survived the unimaginable and she was a warrior in every sense of the word. She lived life to the fullest and talked about her travels to Hawaii and Aruba. She loved hearing about her children's traveling tales and she most recently spent her days with her entire family over the holidays. She will forever be the light that inspires everyone to live life to the fullest and enjoy the journey. Her laugh, pink hair, love of shopping and all things sparkly, will forever be remembered.
Sharon is predeceased by her grandmother Mae Wiechert, mother and step-father, Doris Thurfield and Michael Thurfield, brother Charles Thurfield, sister Carol Wagner, Ed's grandmother and grandfather, Ida and Harry Heineman, mother-in-law and father-in-law LaVere and Howard Skelley and Ed's brother William Skelley. Sharon is survived by her husband of 60 years, Edward Skelley, daughter Stephanie Waite and husband Adam Waite, daughter Marie Simmons and son Christopher Skelley and wife Cara Skelley. Sharon leaves behind grandchildren; Ashley Mavrikos and husband Dean, Ryan Waite, Emily Waite, Michael Skelley and wife Stacia, Victoria Skelley, Abi Simmons, Piper Adams and Norah Adams. Sharon also leaves great-grandsons, Rider Micelotti, Roman Mavrikos and Roslyn Skelley. She is survived by sister Susan Daughery and husband Jim, Debbie Wieezynski and husband Phil, sister Iris and husband Al Annas, Uncle Jack Heineman and wife Roma, sister-in-law Barbara Skelley and numerous nieces, nephews and friends.
The family will celebrate Sharon's life at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donation in Sharon's name to the American Heart Association, PO Box 840692, Dallas, TX 75284-0692 or to the National Kidney Foundation, 30 East 33rd St., New York, NY 10016.
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services/603Cremations.com, 164 Pleasant St., Laconia, NH, 03246, is assisting the family with arrangements. For more information and to view an online memorial, please visit wilkinsonbeane.com.