More about Sharon

 Sharon's photo was included in our graduation issue of Echoes, May 31, 1961.






From Maria Latessa Drackert...
I had forgotten that she died over Easter weekend so now I remember why there was extra energy in the air.  As a boarder, there was great excitement about the upcoming Easter break so we could travel home and be with family.  I can still remember being in the girls lavatory on first floor (it was across from my home room w/Sister ??? and the windows faced the tennis courts) and Sharon was in there as well.  She asked if someone had a comb, and I lent her mine.   (You probably may not do this today.)  After she used it, she put her hands on my cheeks, gave me a big smile and said 'thank you'.  Imagine my shock after returning to school to learn she had died!  As you mentioned on your blog, at that young age, death was a hard concept to grasp, and the sadness prevailed on our class for the remaining years.

Almost Friends

    It was Easter weekend and I am sure I spent the days away from school doing what Catholics do during that season of rebirth.  I know I spent quite a bit of time in church, praying for my eternal soul.  I was exhilarated by the smell of incense and eager for forgiveness, so I never minded pulling extra duty.
    I was a Freshman and had started to get comfortable with new friends, girls I hadn't known in elementary school.  Sharon had attended the other Catholic grade school, Pete's and Paul's, while I went to St. John's.  We were in study hall together at Good Counsel and probably other classes now long forgotten.  I remember that I loved her zest for life and I looked forward to getting to know her better.
    That never happened.  Sharon Kehoe was killed in a car accident on Good Friday.  While it was the end of her life, I suspect it was the beginning of many of her classmates' lives.  At least I know that her tragic and untimely death had a profound impact on me.   I had only limited experience with death: my maternal grandfather had died when I was too young to grasp its meaning.  But now I could understand the concept of mortality.  Here was someone my own age, 15, dead.  Gone.  Forever.
    Father Scheid  took a few of us to her wake.  I don't remember who went, all I remember is seeing Sharon, my almost friend, dead.  Gone.  Forever.  The Easter season always makes me think of her, even after all these years.

   Sharon Kehoe is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Mankato, MN.