Sharon Goodwin

Sharon Lee Ives was born on January 8, 1950 to Claude and Lou Ella Ives in Fairbanks, Alaska - at the time, a very remote area. She was born on her Aunt and Uncles birthday; and also on Elvis’ birthday - for whom she was always ‘All Shook Up’.

17 months later Claude, Lou, and Sharon were blessed with one of the great loves of their lives - her baby sister Jolene Rae. Sharon and Jolene were raised in the Manchester area at the family home on Yukon Harbor, and their days were filled with fun, laughter, love….and a seemingly never-ending list of chores that Claude and Lou had for them! That was ok though - because having come from such good stock, both girls were always eager to work, and to help out around the home in any way they could. When they did manage to sneak away (and they did plenty), it was always with their childhood and lifelong friends - the Wileys, Grotherns, Browns, and Dieslers. Carol (Wiley) Brown who now lives in Ellensburg was such a close friend that they share many secrets that each has sworn to take to their grave, and mama would have been proud (and giggling) that she managed to keep hers! Carol thought the world of Sharon - so much so that when her daughter Kelly was born, Carol blessed her with the same middle name as Sharon's.

Sharon and Jo attended various schools in the Port Orchard area, including South Colby Elementary, and eventually her beloved South Kitsap High School (GO WOLVES) - and also in Fairbanks, Alaska as Claude worked to help build the great Alaska Highway; while Lou worked as a cook and part owner in the original Myhre's Restaurant in Port Orchard. In between, they spent summers at Ives Island on Stuart Lake in British Columbia - a place she loved with all her heart; and a place where generations of our family share more memories than can be counted. Sharon was active in school activities; and as you can imagine, was as loved then as she is now. She was always miss popularity - with both her friends, and the boys! Following high school, Sharon went to work at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, and spent her weekends enjoying her friends, and the late sixties Kitsap music scene. Some of which her friends may remember…..lol, but I’m sure also many of you do not! :)

In 1969, she met what would become her first husband, Dan Sewell at a party at Doug & Vicki Knight’s house in Illahee, Washington; and soon followed him to Augusta, Georgia where Dan was stationed at Fort Gordon Army Base. Soon after in 1972, they were wed in Aiken, South Carolina; and then deployed to Geissen Army Depot in Geissen, Germany where Dan was a SGT. and Communications Director in the US Army Signal Corp attached to the 32nd Air Defense Artillery. Sharon spent her time as a Travel Clerk in the Army Personnel Office helping to arrange travel homes for discharged personnel. On evenings and weekends, their time was filled with trips to Paris, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, The Hague, and (very NON-military approved) trips to Amsterdam Coffee Shops with Aaron and Jenie Goodwin. Upon discharge in February of 1975, Dan and Sharon moved back to Fairbanks, Alaska for the summer where Dan worked on the Alaska Highway with Claude, and Sharon spent her free time with her dear lifelong friends Lee and Gayle Hazen; Lee’s brother Beez (Craig), and his sister Cynthia. Following the summer, Dan and Sharon moved back to the Port Orchard area where they made their first family home on Harriet St; and eventually purchased Claude and Lou’s family home on Yukon Harbor.

It was during this period they were blessed with their only biological child, a son, Joshua Lee; however, the home always seemed more full, and more full of love as they intertwined their lives with Dan’s first wife Pam Creasy (Hastings), and their daughters Tami, Teri, and Tonya. This was also when Sharon slowly began what would become her life's greatest legacy - collecting as many children as she possibly could. There ended up being HUNDREDS of them, and you all know who you are, and how loved you were by her! For the next 24 years their lives were filled with Little League, SKYAA football, basketball, bowling, fishing, hunting, and camping - and anything else Josh was into, for she was never more than two steps behind him. Pushing him, loving him, and supporting him unequivocally and unconditionally. Shortly after Josh moved on to college at WSU (GO COUGS) in 1994, Sharon and Dan decided that their lives might be better blessed as dear friends rather than partners, and they soon parted ways in 2001. Never a phone call away, and never wavering in their love and commitment to their son, they remained very close to this day. It was also during this period that Sharon was blessed with another of her many children, Albert Sitorus. Albert was Josh’s college roommate, best friend, and it was here that she further extended her web of love by welcoming him and his family from Jakarta, as her own family. This love, and lifelong commitment to each other was returned to her in 2011 when Albert flew her to Jakarta as the guest of honor at his ‘royal’ wedding. This trip was one of the most magical moments of her life, and she was often fond of recanting stories of their family, and their culture.

Sharon spent much of these years managing the family home on Yukon Harbor, and also her cousin’s resort in Sekiu, Washington. It was here at Olsons Resort that she was often at her happiest, as she loved the ocean, her cousins, and the majestic beauty of the Olympic Peninsula. It wasn’t until 2008 that by a sad, but eventually beautiful turn of events that she was soon wooed by a very familiar and charming face who wanted to take her for a ride in his new flamin' hot rod PT Cruiser. Arlond Goodwin, a lifelong friend of Sharon's and Dan’s from childhood had lost his dear wife Theresa in 2005, and had found himself drawn to her smile, her laugh, her love…..and well, if you knew Sharon, I don’t have to list for you the qualities that drew people to her - you know, that tractor beam of love of hers got you all too!

Married on the beach in Sekiu in July of 2008, Arlond and Sharon began to wind their lives together in a beautiful tapestry of love for each other, their ever-growing list of children, their family, their friends, and their community. Arlond and Theresa had been blessed with three beautiful daughters - Lisa, Lynae, and Leanne; and a son Derek. And much like Dan's daughters Tami, Teri, and Tonya - biology mattered not, these were simply her new daughters and son, period. She loved them like all the angels they are, and they reciprocated in spades. Much to Sharon's delight, these four angels blessed her with another 8 grandchildren. Over the next 14 years Sharon, Arlond and their ever-growing family made many lifetimes of memories as they traveled, camped, or fished every opportunity they got. Travel to Mexico, Florida, and Hawaii was filled with memories of zip lining, parasailing, submarining, or sailing - and local travel consisted of camping and RV’ing at Mardon Resort, casinos, many Olympic Peninsula Rivers, or clamming at the ocean they loved so much. Stuart Lake remained close in her heart, and was perhaps her favorite place on earth.

As many of you, who were blessed to know them during this period of their life, you will remember Sharon and Arlond as inseparable. Their love grew every day, and their family home on Bethel Burley Rd was always open to anyone, and always bursting with the love, laughter, and support they were both so well known for. As her health had unexpectedly taken a turn for the worse in the past year, both Sharon and Arlond were humbled at the outpouring of love and support she received from their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and her ever loving group of girlfriends. As a mother and friend to so many, she was never alone in those battles; and for that our family thanks you all from the bottom of our heart. In those difficult times her children, her grandchildren, and her great grandchildren became the light of her life, and made it possible for her to face those challenges with the grace for which she was so well known.

Sharon is preceded in death by her parents Claude and Lou, Arlond’s daughters Lisa and Leanne; and is survived by her loving husband Arlond, her sister Jolene, son Joshua, first husband Dan, and her children Tami, Teri, Tonya, Lynae, and Derek. Combined she shared 18 grandchildren, 14 great grandchildren, literally hundreds of ‘Sharon’s Kids’, and a never-ending line of friends, and community members with whom we all mourn today. Sharon was one of the most beloved human beings God ever graced us with, and the love and celebration surrounding her is so very representative of the amazing woman she is, the life she lived, and the love she shared.