Carl Dale Sharpless

Carl Dale Sharpless of Gum Spring, Virginia, passed away on May 16, 2025, at the age of 93, at St. Mary's Hospital, Richmond, Virginia. He was born the sixth of ten children of Herbert Dorsey and Pearle (Paugh) Sharpless, on 11 December 1931, at home in Garrett County, Maryland, near Mt. Zion Church. His paternal aunt Emma (Sharpless) Stark was the midwife who attended to his mother. His birth was not recorded with the state until after his sister Helen was born in 1933. The county courthouse was miles distant from his parents’ residence and required a day’s trip in that time.

Carl, known as “Dale” to his family, grew up on Backbone Mountain at the end of the Sharpless Mine Road in Garrett County. The place earned the nickname “Porky Pig House” in later years, so christened by one of his nieces. His father Herbert “Tuff” worked in the nearby underground coal mines and tended a small farm. Carl attended a small school located near Mt. Zion Church in his early years and then walked “down over the hill” into Kitzmiller to complete his education at Kitzmiller High School. He graduated in 1949 and lived at home until that fall when he and his cousin Everett Paugh moved to Washington, D.C., where they roomed together in a boardinghouse. Carl worked in the Hub Furniture warehouse and then at the Library of Congress in the circulation department.

In April 1951, Carl and Everett both enlisted in the military to serve during the Korean Conflict. Everett joined the Army while Carl served in the Air Force. He completed his basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Lexar County, Texas, and then furthered his training in Tempe, Arizona, at the Air Force’s program at Arizona State University. After completing his training, he returned home briefly and then shipped out to his assigned duty station at Wiesbaden Air Base, Army Airfield. He was assigned to the Post Intelligence unit.

In April 1955, he was honorably discharged from the Air Force and he returned to the States and enrolled in Penn Technical Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He boarded with Daryl Lockery, who owned a radio and television repair shop. At Penn Tech Carl studied electronics. After completing his training in Pittsburgh, Carl moved back to Washington, D.C., to work at the National Radio Institute as a technical consultant for their school. He answered questions from students enrolled in correspondence classes. He met his future wife, Barbara Jean Seibert, at NRI where she worked as a typist.

Carl married Jean on 27 May 1961, at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Silver Spring, Maryland. The reception was held at her parents’ home in Silver Spring. They lived in an apartment in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and then bought a home in the Wheaton area of Montgomery County in 1963. Carl left NRI to work for Defense Electronics, Inc., in Rockville, Maryland, as a technical writer. He continued in that profession until his retirement in 1996.

In 1997 Carl and Jean moved to Gum Spring, Virginia. He joined Gum Spring United Methodist Church and American Legion Post 215 in Goochland, Virginia.

Carl is survived by his wife of nearly 64 years, Barbara Jean (Seibert), his daughter Robin Larson ( Kevin) of Hadensville, Virginia, and son Scott of Gum Spring, Virginia; ten grandchildren, Katrina Dalton (Danny), Kristopher Larson (Sarah), Karrin Larson (JT Bell), Scott Sharpless, William Sharpless, Karl Larson (Meredith), Andrew Sharpless, Kirsten Valdivia (Stephen), Annalyn Sharpless, Kara Larson; ten great-grandchildren; his sister, Minnie Nelson and her husband Bill, of Deer Park, Maryland; his sisters-in-law Dolly Sharpless, Fort Ashby, West Virginia, and Shirley Sharpless, Kitzmiller, Maryland; his brother-in-law Robert Seibert, Logan, Ohio. He was predeceased by his parents and eight siblings.

A gathering of family and friends will be held at Norman Funeral Home, 2982 River Road West,Goochland, on Tuesday, May 20, from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. Burial will be held that same day at Gum Spring United Methodist Church, 191 Cross County Road, Gum Spring, at 2:00 p.m. The American Legion will provide military honors. A memorial service is planned for June.