Obituary of Doreen "Pat" Margaret Sharp

Doreen "Pat" Margaret Sharp, age 95, of Lynchburg, Virginia, died on Friday, July 3, 2020.  

Doreen Margaret Benham was born on November 25, 1924, at 13 Auckland Road, Earley, Reading, England. She met her husband, William Robert Sharp, while he was stationed in England during World War II. They married on September 11, 1943 - she was an English city girl and he a handsome Wyoming cowboy.

Doreen was a wonderful mother who made her children the focus of her life. She entertained us all with stories from her interesting intertwined past in both England and America - about how she and her sisters danced during the war as young girls do and met the loves of their lives, about how her older brother Arthur returning from a mission was taken prisoner in North Africa by four hundred German paratroopers and later escaped from a prison camp in Italy, about her leaving her close knit family across the pond and embarking on a new life with her young daughter, Diane. She moved to America to be with her husband and was later joined by her Mum and Dad (Clara and James) and younger brother, Roy, in Los Angeles, and found a different life and experienced a wider world. She never lost her dry British sense of humor, and still spoke with a British accent when she died. An accent that was pronounced to others but was just simply Mom to us and never foreign at all.

Doreen’s husband Bill - Billy Bob in his youth - died in 1982. Mother has gone to join her forever love in a new adventure. The English city girl and her Wyoming cowboy are together again. RIP Doreen - the Queen of Wildwood and all her and our worlds. She died just five minutes before the 4th - the day my Dad would crow the Americans had whipped the English. She finally beat the Americans and turned the world upside down once again. In her mind right side up. Cornwallis must be turning in his grave still. Our Mother is in peace and with her angels both in earthly memories and in ethereal heaven.

Doreen and Bill are survived and eternally loved by their four children, Diane Snee (Tom), James Sharp, Susan Miley (Bill) and Sandra Sharp (Barb); as well as their five grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her two remaining loving siblings, Uncle Roy and Auntie Jean, and their respective families.

A private family service will be held for Doreen.

In lieu of flowers or memorials, contributions to the Salvation Army, St Jude Children Research Hospital, Special Olympics, Shriners Hospitals for Children or your local humane society would be recommended and appreciated.