Sharon Rose (Clover) McConnel

  Sharon Rose was born to Ray and Alma (née Charon) Clover at Nampa’s Samaritan Hospital, the 4th of 5 children. She grew up outside Nampa and Marsing, attending schools in both, graduating from Marsing High School in 1961. In 1965 she received a BS in Education from the University of Idaho, then worked on a Master of Education in School Counseling at Eastern Washington University while teaching, finally earning that degree in 1991 from Eastern Montana College in Billings.  
  While an undergraduate, Sharon met Lee Porter McConnel – both were students who attended the Moscow Church of the Nazarene. They were married June 15, 1964 at Marsing’s Nazarene church. Their loving devotion to one another would endure for 62 years and produce two sons. Adam was born in 1971 and Jon in 1973, both at Ste. Maries. Sharon was a caring mother who strove to maintain a warm, nurturing, and orderly home.
  Sharon taught at a variety of schools in northern Idaho from 1964-1971 as she and Lee moved for his assignments with the Soil Conservation Service and U.S. Forest Service. After Lee worked on Alaska’s Tongass National Forest in 1974-1976, the family returned to southern Idaho. Sharon resumed teaching in 1976, first at Middleton HS and later at Vallivue HS, both in the Treasure Valley. In 1980, she began teaching in Billings, Montana after Lee found a new position on the Custer National Forest. In Billings, she taught at Senior HS, Skyview HS, and Castle Rock JH, and transitioned to guidance counseling in 1992 after completing her Masters. At that time she moved from Billings to Bellingham, WA, where she worked at all three high schools – Sehome, Bellingham, and Squalicum – over the course of her career there. She retired in 2007. 
  Art and music were essential and enriching aspects of Sharon’s life. She enjoyed a wide variety of activities and crafts, including tole painting, pottery, cross-stitch, calligraphy, wood carving, and furniture refinishing. The many decorative works she created continue to grace her family and friends’ homes. 
Sharon played French horn, E-Flat Alto horn, and piano, and loved singing in church in choirs, small ensembles, and around the house, including to wake up lay-about sons, whose love for music she encouraged from a very young age. She was always actively involved with music at the churches she attended, and after retiring to Montour, she helped organize music for the Sweet Community Church for many years. Not least, Sharon was a committed reader, and her copy of Crime and Punishment was the initial spark for her eldest son’s lifelong reading and teaching of literature.
  Her organization, and ability as an organizer, was a characteristic that all who knew Sharon recognized. Her home always displayed her taste and capacity for organization, but outside of the home she used her abilities for the community’s benefit. She helped lead the Sweet-Montour Syringa Club’s renovation and restoration of Sweet’s Syringa Hall, a historic building maintained by the Club. She helped write grant requests, sent out fundraising letters, and coordinated with contractors. Other activities included stroke-and-turn swimming referee, and election volunteer. 
Sharon was an enthusiastic gardener and greatly enjoyed caring for her flower beds in addition to an extensive annual garden filled with fruits and vegetables. She also enjoyed sitting in her small Japanese garden except when shared with local black bears. 
  Later in life, Sharon found the opportunity to travel widely, and enjoyed cruises to Alaska, the St. Lawrence River, the British Isles, Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea, the Mediterranean, and through the Panama Canal. She visited her son’s Turkish in-laws a half dozen times and toured sites such as Ephesus, Rhodes, and Troy.
She is survived by her husband and sons; sister June Zacharias; brother Ken Clover; brothers-in-law Paul (Peggy) and Steve (Linda) McConnel; sisters-in law Judy and Isabella; two daughters-in-law, Gina Macke and Nefin Dinc, and two grandchildren, Jankat and Kuban McConnel-Dinc; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, her oldest brother, Bob, and oldest sister Phyllis.
 Sharon will be laid to rest at the Sweet Cemetery in Sweet, Idaho on Wednesday, July 15, 2026.  A Celebration of her life will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, August 22, 2026 at the Syringa Hall in Sweet.  Services are in the care of the Potter Funeral Chapel of Emmett.

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