Eleanor Sharp

On the afternoon of July 21, 2022, Eleanor Sharp joined our Lord.  She was 83 years old.

She was born December 5, 1938, in Shambaugh, IA to parents Donald and Maxine Wilson.  Eleanor grew up in Clarinda, IA.  As a girl, Eleanor had love/hate relationship with her horse. Once it bucked her off and she broke her wrist.  Another time it rubbed her up against a mailbox and gashed her leg.  However, for the injuries suffered, there were hours of joy on horseback with her girlfriend.  She often reminisced how they would ride and lay in grassy fields looking at the clouds drift away.  She said this made Psalm 23 a favorite.  As a child discovered her passion for art and at 16 at Iowa State Fair took home the Grand Champion award for Junior Artist in Oil Painting for the state.  She married at 16 years of age to Keith Rucker and had three sons, whom she loved dearly, Kevin, Randy, and Tim. In 1957, they moved from Iowa to Colorado to pursue their mutual love of the Rocky Mountains and eventually settled west of Brighton, CO in 1965.  Eleanor and Keith divorced 16 years later.  She married Charlie Miceli of Brighton’s Miceli’s Pizzeria and lost him to cancer 6 years later.  That same year Eleanor lost her middle son, Randy, as she had her brother Donnie, to Muscular Dystrophy at the age of 19.  She married Newton Sharp and enjoyed this marriage for 28 years before he lost his life.  Her Golden years were spent in her beloved Rocky Mountains in Guffey with her youngest son, Tim and his family.

She wed early and was a homemaker but taught ballet (which she loved as a child), cleaned houses, and brought in ironing to help support her family.  She washed dishes, waited tables, and eventually owned Miceli’s Pizzeria with her son Kevin from 1981 to 1991 in Brighton, CO.  Later, she managed the Branding Iron in Ft. Lupton, CO.  In later years, she followed her passion for art.  She attended Rocky Mountain Art Institute and traveled throughout Colorado selling her art and discovering ghost towns with her husband Newton.  She amassed a large collection of pen and ink drawings and oil and pastel paintings.  She even provided illustrations for book on history written by her son, Kevin.

Health problems plagued Eleanor for much of her life.  She moved with her son Tim and his family to the mountains near Guffey, CO, to fulfill a life-long dream.  She went from Iowa farm girl to Colorado mountain lady!  The mountain-living much agreed with her as her health improved and she enjoyed the best health of her life.  Her doctor was so surprised at her improvement he asked her to wear a shirt that said “I am Dr. Sindler’s patient!”

Eleanor had a love of flowers.  Living in the mountains made growing them a challenge.  But she loved walking in the meadows and enjoying her wildflowers.  Quite often they would be the subject of her paintings.  She gifted her church with many murals and paintings. 

Eleanor is survived by her sons, Kevin and Tim (Sandy) Rucker; along with grandchildren Michelle, Thomas, Kyle (Kala), Antoinette, Will, Mina, Carla, and Cody (Melissa), great-grandchildren Kade (Keara), Caleb (LeAnne), Halley, Llewellynn, Troy, and Andrew and great-great grandsons Greyson and Mason.  She is preceded in death by both her parents, her brother Donnie, her husbands Charlie and Newton, her son Randy and her infant grandson, Dinay .

Services will be held on August 1 at the Tabor-Rice Funeral Home in Brighton – Visitation at 10 am, service at  11 am, and 12 noon for the burial. 

A Celebration of Life will be held on August 6 at Mountain View United Methodist Church in Woodland Park at 10 am.  In lieu of flowers, please make contributions to Mountain View United Methodist Church.

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