Sharon M. Cashman

Sharon M. Cashman, 69, of Northumberland, PA passed away on October 17, 2020. She was born on March 24, 1951 in Berwick, PA. Sharon was the second of four children born to Neil E. Cashman and Laura Petrillo Cashman. She is survived by siblings including:  Joanne M. Cashman, Northumberland; Richard P. Cashman, Berwick and Neil E. Cashman, Jr. (Cindy), Lemoyne. She is also survived by three nieces, Christine C. Cashman, Berwick; Colleen Cashman Bitner (Devin), Arnold, MD and Briana M. Cashman, Seattle,WA; one nephew, Bryan Lowe (Kristie), Harrisburg; one grandniece, Virginia Bitner and one grandnephew, Rocco Bitner, both of Arnold, MD.  Sharon was preceded in death by her parents and life partner, Craig Shotwell.

If an obituary is the last chance to tell the story of a life, then this story must be told. If you looked out over the class of 1969 at Berwick High School, you might not know that a certain smart, popular daredevil was also socially aware, compassionate, self-reflective and intensely loyal. These were the qualities that defined a life.

Sharon did not dabble! She immersed herself in everything that she did.

Imagine the first grade teacher that you want for your child.  However you define it, Sharon Cashman fits the description. For 33 summers, she would scour fabric stores to find just the right material to make individual Reading Bags for a new class of students. Then, weekly, she filled them with handmade games and tools to actively engage families and help them learn the simple things they could do to build early literacy while new readers showed off their skills.  To any family that struggled financially or emotionally, she was an advocate, a confidant and a friend. She helped them to be heard and get their needs met, but just like the ‘Jake from State Farm’, when everybody gets your best, everybody thinks they are special. Sharon’s influence is evidenced by the number of announcements received each year of graduations from high school, college, medical and law schools; weddings invitations and birth announcements. How many of us can say that decades after our last contact, you are still ‘the one’ that is remembered?

Sharon had an artist’s eye in everything she did. Her landscaping was magazine material. The eight family graves she manicured each week reflect both beauty and fidelity. Her gifts caused the receiver to stop and imagine whether anything inside could possibly be more beautiful that it’s wrapping. Self- taught in calligraphy, her family trees and birth frakturs grace walls all over northeast PA.

Sharon was a caregiver. She was selfless in the care of those she loved. From diets to doctors, there was no more effective advocate. She refused to let systems forget about the humanity of individual.

Sharon was a Pennsylvanian. She lived the words of commonwealth, ”The welfare of all of us is vested in the welfare of each of us”.  Yet, in the last weeks of her life, she worried about the separation and the coarseness that has taken root in our communities. She openly asked how the value on life is not equally matched with life-sustaining support for so many of the most vulnerable among us.

Just a week before her death, Sharon ‘felt’ the presence of her life partner, Craig Shotwell, so strongly that she called out to him.  In a few days they will rest together under a stone engraved with the Celtic icon for eternity, a heart entwined with an infinity symbol. This obituary is the final story of a life well lived.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 AM on Tuesday, October 27, 2020 at Immaculate Conception BVM Roman Catholic Church, 1730 Fowler Avenue, Berwick, PA 18603.  Reverend Francis J. Tamburro will officiate as celebrant.  Interment at Pine Grove Cemetery, Walnut Street, will follow.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Selinsgrove School District, Sharon Cashman Memorial Scholarship, 500 Broad Street, Selinsgrove, PA 17870 Attn: Nicki Doak.  The Kelchner, McMichael & Readler Funeral Home, Inc. is honored to serve the Cashman family.  Online messages of love and support can be left at www.kelchnerfuneralhome.com.

Sharon Cashman Memorial Scholarship, Selingsgrove School District Attn: Nikki Doak
500 Broad Street, Selingsgrove PA 17870