Nov. 26, 1932-June 15, 2024
Sharon Renee Robson Wilcox, age 91, passed away on June 15, 2024 in St. George. Born on Nov. 26, 1932, in Plain City, Utah, Sharon was the fourth child and third daughter of Alvin James Robson and Leona Warner. In her youth, she attended Plain City School and worked on the family farm. Like her mother, who had trained as an opera singer and often performed in the area, Sharon always had a song for her family and friends.
She attended high school at Weber County High in Ogden, then went on to Utah State University, San Diego State University and Brigham Young University before returning to Utah State to graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education. On a summer vacation to Yellowstone Park, Sharon met Ron Wilcox, who was there on a fishing trip with friends.
“He was there fishing and I was the fish he caught,” she often said with a laugh.
Sharon and Ron were married on Jan. 15, 1954, in the Salt Lake City Temple before moving to Los Angeles, California, where Ron attended the University of California – Los Angeles for an engineering certificate, and their first child, Ronald Carl Wilcox, was born. The young family then moved back to Utah for Ron to earn his Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering at Utah State University while Sharon taught Elementary School in Logan. Ron’s career took them to Kansas City, Missouri, where they welcomed their daughter Renee, and the Detroit, Michigan area, where their daughter Wendy joined the family.
The family finally settled in Thousand Oaks, California, where they lived for 38 years. When her children were of school-age, Sharon resumed her career in education, spending twenty years as a Kindergarten teacher. As a member of the Ventura County Master Chorale, she sang in concerts across Southern California and on choral tours across Europe.
When a Japanese foreign exchange student who had stayed with the family was later married in Japan, Ron and Sharon traveled across the Pacific to join in the festivities. They also enjoyed two African safaris and travels to China, Russia, Scandinavia, South America, Jerusalem and Australia, and spent many vacations at their condo on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Sharon and Ron enjoyed time serving as ordinance workers in the Los Angeles Temple and as a missionary couple in the Visitor Center at the Cody, Wyoming Mural Mission. A memorable event for the family was a fireside hosted in their home with Elder Howard W. Hunter, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who later became the 14th President of the Church.
Retirement moved Sharon and Ron to St. George and put them close to their grandchildren at Brigham Young University, who came down to visit often and enjoyed Grandma’s famous Chocolate Peanut Butter bars, which she would wrap and send home with them or even mail to her grandchildren on faraway foreign missions.
In her last years, she lived at Ovation Sienna Hills Memory Care outside of St. George but came home for one afternoon visit last January to sit by her husband’s hospice care bed and hold his hand. When he passed away two hours later, it seemed he had been waiting for her to come say goodbye. Now, just six months later, the handsome young fisherman and the spirited girl he caught on a trip to Yellowstone are together again in an eternal home.
The family wishes to extend special thanks to the staff of Ovation Sienna Hills Memory Care, especially Lisa and Linda, for their loving care of Sharon in her last years.
Sharon is preceded in death by her husband of 70 years, Ronald G. Wilcox; her parents, Alvin James and Leona Warner Robson; and her siblings, Maurine Robson Humphris, Delbert Warner Robson, Anna Jean Robson Skeen and Mae Robson Fuhriman.
She is survived by her son, Ronald Carl Wilcox and his wife, Victoria (Peirson) of Peachtree City, Georgia; and her daughters, Renee Wilcox Taylor of St. George and Wendy Wilcox Nissen (Michael) of Big Fork, Montana.
She also leaves behind 13 loving grandchildren: Jennifer Wilcox Felsted, Heather Wilcox Shannon, Ashley Wilcox, Ross Carl Wilcox, Dustin Johnson, Christopher Taylor, Jacob Taylor, Kelsi Taylor, Briana Wilcox, Cameron Nissen, Haley Nissen, Reese Nissen and Quinlan Nissen; and eight great-grandchildren: Ethan Felsted, Elise Felsted, James Felsted, Nora Felsted, Alexis Shannon, Cole Shannon, Aria Shannon and Robin Chaucer Wilcox.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Thursday, June 20, at 6 p.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1095 St. James Lane, St. George. The graveside service will be on Saturday, June 22, at 11 a.m. in the Fielding City Cemetery, Fielding, Utah.
Arrangements are under the direction of Spilsbury Mortuary, 110 S Bluff St., St. George, 435-673-2454. Family and friends are invited to sign Sharon’s online guest book.
Obituaries are received from the public and are not the product of St. George News, its editors, staff or contributors. The matters stated and opinions included are the responsibility of the person submitting them. Obituaries may be submitted for consideration to St. George News via email to [emailprotected].
