Sharon Mae Gadbaw

Sharon Mae Gadbaw died July 16 at the age of 65 with her three children at her side at St. Alexius Medical Center, in Bismarck North Dakota. An amazing and passionate individual, Sharon directed her energy to her career as a librarian, her children, and her love of nature and animals. Most of Sharon's career was spent working for the Indian River School District in Philadelphia, New York. She enjoyed working with children; she taught her love of books to hundreds of students through vibrant readings, playful skits, and a decorated library. Those who walked through her library could find Max and the Wild Things or Pooh and Piglet among many others characters somewhere on her shelves. On the school grounds, she also had been known to give fly fishing demonstrations to her peers and students. She also had four children: three boys, Michael, David, and Stephan, and one girl, Theresa. Sharon loved her children and would have done anything for them. Sharon was devastated by, and never fully recovered from, the death of her son David, who was killed in an automobile accident just prior to his 21st birthday. She was a caring mother and always supported her children; she cheered their smallest victories and cried with them in their defeats. Sharon grew up at The Morning Star Stables near Black River New York, where she learned to ride and developed a love of music and dancing with her cousins, Emery, Gary and Linda Shaw. Banjos, fiddles, guitars, square dancing and clogging were common entertainment. Although she lived in many different places throughout her life, the country life of her childhood was the one she most cherished. She moved to Germany with her mother and step-father, Bill Berard, and there met her first husband, John McCormick, while still in her late teens. After two children and a divorce, she returned to the states with her parents to Aberdeen Proving Grounds, where she met and fell in love with a dashing young ordnance officer at the laundry where she worked. They were married and shortly afterwards were transferred to Ft. Ord, California, where their third son was born. After three years in California and a tour in Vietnam, these Easterners picked up their things and tried out a new type of country life far from her woods to the prairies of the Midwest on a ranch along the banks of the Cannon Ball River near Solen, North Dakota. In Solen, she and her husband indulged in poverty and ranching, coaxing hay for their cattle, sheep, and horses out of the unforgiving soils in the rugged land of west river North Dakota. Sharon attended UND and got a degree in library science, and became well known in her community driving her book mobile to towns with no libraries. She was also known for her championship collies that she raised, who were both loving and intelligent, and also helped out on the ranch. It was there that their fourth child and only daughter was born. Life on the prairie, however, was tough on Sharon and she longed for the woods, lakes and rivers of her upstate childhood. Her seventeen year marriage to George Hsu ended in divorce and she returned to New York, where she assisted her parents at their V&M Camps, near Hammond, New York, on Black Lake's Mile Arm Bay. After her mother passed away, she took on a new surrogate family of a co-worker, Bonnie Scheer, who also shared her love of nature and the outdoors. Summers would often find their families together at the cabin or camping. The last few summers in New York, with a fly rod her daughter built for her, Sharon could be found fishing in the Adirondacks, with her children or her friends. The winters found her in her libraries with her students, who were her children and friends as well. In 2007, Sharon suffered a major stroke, which affected her short-term memory to the point she was unable to continue to work, or live in complete independence. She reluctantly, at her children's insistence, agreed to move back to North Dakota with them, to a supportive community where her ex-husband's new family became part of her family. Sharon was always along on camping trips with them and could be found cutting potatoes and onions, frying eggs over a cast iron skillet for breakfast and never forgetting that "we need coffee", "make sure we have coffee". Wine was never in shortage around the campfire at night. Sharon found beauty in the little things, and was passionate in everything she did; she often broke into song for whatever occasion she could match a song to, whether it was "Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald" around the Great Lakes, "Gary Indiana, Gary Indiana, Gary Indiana" on one of her transits between New York and North Dakota, or "Yankee Doodle Dandy" on the Fourth of July. She was quick to laugh and always eager for her next adventure. Services will be held on August 5th at Saint Lawrence Corners Cemetery, near the township of Cape Vincent, New York, at 11:00 a.m. Please send donations to the Jefferson County Humane Society or whatever shelter or nature conservation of your choice. Sharon is survived by her three children, Michael, Steven, and Theresa Hsu; three grandchildren, Melissa, Elizabeth, and Alex Hsu; and golden retriever, Brandi.

Sharon Mae Gadbaw

November 17, 1947 - July 16, 2013