Sharon Anne Morrow

Sharon Anne Bryson Morrow, our strong, loving, multi-talented, generous, and wise mother, peacefully passed away on May 29, 2024, in Mesa, Arizona, at the age of 83.
The youngest of nine children, Sharon was born in Centralia, Washington, on June 4, 1940. As the story goes, her father, a paraplegic as a result of war injuries in France, was home with her eight siblings on the day Sharon was born. On the second or third day of her mother's stay in the maternity ward he told the kids, "One of you, get to that hospital and find out what we have!" How incredibly glad we are that she was born.
Although Sharon's father died less than a year after her birth, in her words, she felt that she "grew up with the most gracious, independent, industrious mother on earth" and was filled with gratitude for the childhood she experienced. Her earliest memory was at age three, wearing a yellow sun dress with red ducks on it while riding her tricycle on the sidewalk in front of her family's home. She fondly described their house on a "quiet street with a big yard, huge garden space, and orchard of apple, cherry, pear, and plum trees, perfect for tree climbing and swinging on a tire swing." In 1944-45, that same garden developed into a wartime "Victory" garden with chicken coop to supplement rations and boost community morale. Sharon recalled that everyone in her family was assigned chores; her assigned task was gathering eggs.
As the youngest in the household, Sharon was thrilled when she was finally old enough to attend school. Through the years, she attended Jefferson Elementary, Washington Middle School, and graduated in the top of her class from Centralia High School in 1958. Smart, talented, and active in a variety of clubs and social activities, Sharon recalled her high school years as the best days of her life. Through the decades, she maintained contact with many of her dear high school friends and was deeply grateful to have been able to attend her 64th high school reunion in 2022. As their alma mater fondly states, "Four years together in our school, where all our hearts abide. By graduation torn apart and scattered far and wide. But still, when two or three shall meet and memories carry back, we sing to praise the honor of our fighting orange and black."
Sharon was a hard-working, loving, creative, and devoted mother to her four children–Daniel, Joseph, Brenda, and Bethany. Throughout her lifetime, she worked in a wide variety of jobs including babysitting, picking fruit, waitressing, cashiering, theater usherette, school secretary, making Dilly bars at Dairy Queen, insurance adjuster, office administrator, executive assistant, furniture salesperson, legal secretary, and training manager. Out of all the roles she held, however, she claimed that "the best job ever was motherhood." In 1982, Sharon began work as a Legal Secretary for the Washington State Attorney General's Office. She worked for the AGO for 25 years and retired from her position as Training Manager in 2007.
Throughout her career, Sharon balanced work with healthy doses of play. She enjoyed trips to Switzerland, Germany, France, and England. As a Disney fan, she also firmly believed in being "her own fairy Godmother" and planned numerous trips to her Florida timeshare condominium in Disney World, Disneyland vacations in California (in 1976, the family took Amtrak to Anaheim and back!), and even visited Euro Disney soon after it opened in Paris. She attended the Passion Play in Oberammergau, rode a high-altitude cable car in the Alps, took ferries to and from British Columbia, explored the nation's capital (one of her D.C. trips coincided with the cicadas), took shopping excursions to the Mall of America and West Edmonton Mall, beachcombed on Cape Cod and toured Boston and Salem, experienced a summer evening tour of the Roman Baths, traveled to sunny California on various occasions to see the San Diego Zoo, Knotts Berry Farm, San Francisco, Alcatraz, and Catalina Island. She also maintained a small, shared retirement home in Mesa for a period of time, and attended years and years of Bryson family reunions which were sometimes held in other states. Sharon was a marvelous event planner and adventurous traveler.
No matter where she lived, Sharon valued and curated a beautiful home environment. From Centralia to Olympia to DuPont to Lacey to Mesa, having a lovely, comfortable space to call home was extremely important to her. We are so proud of and impressed by the hard choices she made, for the love she gave, for the countless blessings she generated for all of us along the way. In her long life, she was so many different things to many different people–mother, sister, Oma, aunt, cousin, daughter, friend, neighbor, hostess, congregant, co-worker, volunteer, resident, and so much more. For all of us who loved her deeply and dearly, she will forever be in our hearts and will continue to be one of our purest definitions of "home."
In a little notebook she left behind, we found a revised version of a famous quote that Sharon had jotted down in her pretty and precise handwriting. It read, "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body but rather to skid in sideways, champagne in one hand, strawberries in the other, body totally used up, totally worn out, and proclaiming loudly, "Woo-hoo, what a ride!"
Sharon is survived by her children, Daniel (Christine) Morrow of Mesa, AZ, Joseph (Teresa) Morrow of Bothell, WA, Brenda (Alan) Baker of Boise, ID, Bethany (Jerry) Crowell of Mesa, AZ, and her adored grandchildren, Andrew, Alexander, Abigail, Ashley, and Heather.
Sharon's family wishes to thank the loving, skillful, and compassionate care of the entire staff and caregivers of Acoya Mesa Assisted Living, Aegis Home Health, and Aegis Hospice, as well as Red Mountain Funeral Home for their vital services and support.
A Celebration of Life is scheduled for Sunday, August 18, 2:00 p.m., at First United Methodist Church of Olympia, 1224 Legion Way SE, Olympia, WA, 98501. The service will be livestreamed for those who are unable to attend in person. All family, friends, and loved ones are welcome. A private interment for immediate family is planned for an earlier date at Mountain View Cemetery in Centralia, WA.