GERALDINE F. "Geri" SHARON 1914-2002

REEVER, SHARON

Posted By: Mary Durr (email)
Date: 10/29/2003 at 12:45:58

Telegraph Herald - Sunday, July 14, 2002
Page 22A, Column three

Geraldine F. Sharon

Geraldine F. "Geri" Sharon, 88, of Stonehill Care Center and Assisi Village, died Saturday, July 13, 2002, at the care center.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Columbkille's Catholic Church, where friends may call after 8:30 a.m. Burial will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Key West, Iowa. The Hoffmann-Schneider Funeral Home, 1640 Main St., is in charge of arrangements.

She was born on July 12, 1914, in Albert Lea, Minn., daughter of the late G. G. "Larry" and Alice (Reever) Sharon. The Sharon family moved to Dubuque when she was an infant.

She graduated from the former Visitation Academy and Clarke College. After graduation, she formed an all girl orchestra, which was unique at the time, and played at dances in the tri-state area.

She worked at the Dubuque Post Office prior to World War II. She was known to have all the postal routes memorized and would sort all the mail at 5 a.m. each day for the Dubuque routes.

She joined the Navy and was the first WAVE from Dubuque after the attack on Pearl Harbor. She was a 1st Lieutenant. Her assignment was to the Intelligence Office in New York. That office intercepted a message from a German submarine. Thanks to Clarke College, she was the only one on staff that could translate the message.

After the war, she became editor of a trade journal in Chicago. She also was a "ghost writer" for the president of the Goldblattz Store Chain of Chicago.

Her special interest was reading to the blind. She was a member of St. Columbkille's Parish.

Surviving are a brother, Rev. Norbert "Larry" Sharon S. T., a Trinity missionary priest, working in East Los Angeles, Calif.

She was preceded in death by her parents; and a brother, Jack.