James William Sharp

On December 29, 1927, James William Sharp was born the youngest child to Harry Reanen and Lulu Lenna Sharp. A shy and timid boy, he spend his days with his brother Aubrey learning blacksmithing, carpentry, haying, painting, fencing and trapping in the Pagosa Springs, Colorado area.

Can you picture this wiry red-headed boy in bib-overalls eagerly making his way to a one-room school house on skis behind his brother Jack? Now picture him as an adult driving extreme skiers up Little Nell on Aspen mountain in a snow-cat.

A self-described cowboy, Jim and his horse Sue roped, branded cattle and rode in the parades in Pagosa. He and Aubrey sang tunes as Gene Autrey and Ernest Tubbs - later on in life he would join late night musical jam sessions with his bride Martha, and Johnny & Sara Masco.

It was at Pagosa Springs High School that Jim wooed the eventual class Valedictorian Martha Nossman. When Martha graduated, she left for Fort Lewis College on full scholarship and Jim was heartbroken - he wrote "...I wouldn't let her go back, and then we got married."

Their lives together began December 4, 1947...and all that followed was because two people fell in love...

Jim supported his new bride ranching cattle until in 1954. During this time, they added three precious members to their union - Catherine Irene, Glen William and Roger Allen.

They packed an old International Pickup and headed for Carbondale Colorado. Their move from Pagosa wouldn't be without it's challenges. The truck broke down, all three kids contracted the Red Measles and Jim made an abrupt career change...all this in one year's time.

Going from rancher to heavy equipment operator was no small feat, but as was Jim's nature, he rolled up the sleeves of a pearl snap-button work shirt, stepped in and went to work.

It was here in Carbondale that Jim and Martha opened their home to the full-time LDS missionaries, were baptized and later sealed for time and all eternity in the Manti Utah Temple. A decision that continues to effect generations.

For 45 years "Jimmy" as he became known to his co-workers and friends, dynamited and built roads, dug culverts, cleared paths, graded dams, and dug basements for common men and Saudi Princes alike. His reputation as one of the "best operators in western Colorado" grew out of doing the impossible. Like righting a tipped backhoe off a lowboy trailer or moving a 200 ft. pine tree. As Jim wrote, "The difficult we do right away, the impossible takes a little longer." We might reflect on his life and his accomplishments and say that the impossible took 83 years.

It may have been in experiences in childhood and adulthood that prepared him for the difficulties and triumphs in life - like checking trap lines on home made snow shoes in three feet of snow, or building a dream home in Center Creek with his three children and son-in-law Dick Maddalone, nearly dieing from tick fever or rescuing a trapped bulldozer with Scrap-Iron in a fierce Colorado July blizzard.

Marrying Martha, sealing his family in the holy temple, obediently serving God as a Clerk, Branch President, on a full-time mission in Oklahoma and as pioneer of the LDS faith in the Aspen Valley are surely the hallmarks of this wonderful man's life.

For 63 years he was a faithful husband to Martha - rolled into that were duties as a father of three, and a "Grandpahhhh" to 16 who each have their special memories...like fishing in Spokane, site seeing in Kauai, being reminded that they are loved just because they were born, slices of homemade pie, shooting, hunting, extra bowls of ice cream, the black candy dish, M&M's and football games. Being lulled to sleep on the front seat of a gas truck over Wolf Creek Pass or on the back of a bulldozer on a 45 degree grade. Beating all the other Dad's at the Father and Sons foot race in his cowboy boots or beating Jarret to the end zone at a Basalt vs Glenwood football contest, painting a car or two or three, fixing everything imaginable with just a little more spit and bailing wire, losing a son to a coal mine, or gaining a posterity of 16 grand-children and 37 (and counting) great grand-children.

Forgiveness. Work. Obedience. Humility. Tenacity. Creativity. Compassion - Jim Sharp. He once said that he'd lived a life of no regrets...what a testament.

He is survived by his beautiful and dedicated wife of 63 years, Martha Irene - daughter Cathy (Dick) Maddalone, son Roger (Nancy), daughter-in-law Cheryl, two brothers Jack and Aubrey, and a sister-in-law Sara Masco.

He is preceded in death by a brother Robert Vernon, sister Eula King and his son Glen William.

We celebrate this impossibly wonderful life here on Earth. We look forward through worthiness to joining him and reminiscing more...maybe over a cup of hot Tang and some of Grandma's cookies...over the legacy set forth all because two people fell in love.

-Jarret M. Sharp
Eulogy of my Grandpa
April, 2011

References - personal notes, memories, conversations with my beautiful cousins, talks with Aunt Nancy, Uncle Roger, Uncle Dick, Aunt Cathy, photographs, prayer and fasting.