Sharon Teresa Brehmer

Sharon was born on December 19th, 1938 at Harrison Memorial Hospital in Bremerton, Washington. The daughter of Emory and Emma Mills. Sharon has one sibling, an older brother, Ron Mills of Tacoma. While speaking with Ron, he expressed that Sharon was the best sister anyone could have. They’ve always remained very close.

Sharon attended grades 1 through 8 at Star of the sea, a Catholic school, just a 4 block walk from home. Grades 9 through 12 were at Bremerton High School, also a 4 block walk. Poor girl, she never did get to ride the bus with all the little darlings.

Seating in High school study hall was in alphabetical order, so she sat behind Mel Mills, who consistently helped her with Algebra. They started dating in 1956.

Immediately after graduating from Bremerton High School, she began working for Pacific Northwest Bell as a telephone operator on the old plug-in switch boards.

After dating for 4 years, Sharon and Mel were married in 1960. When at the courthouse applying for their marriage license, Mel thought he’d have a little fun, so he told Sharon to give him her license, since her maiden name, Mills, was the same as her married name, and said to the clerk, “It’s legal to marry your sister, right?” You should have seen the look on the clerk’s face!

They moved to Bellingham, and Sharon transferred with the telephone company as a long distance operator. Their first son, David, was born in 1961. Mel would joke with Sharon saying, “They sure as heck can’t accuse us of having an illegitimate kid.”

They moved back to Auburn in 1962 where their children, Steven, Susan, Victor and Todd were born.

Todd was born missing one of the two major heart valves, and lived 40 days.

Victor bravely lost his life while attempting to save a friend and co-workers life at a heavy construction site. It was 2 weeks before 9-11, and 2 days after his 34th birthday. Sharon has proudly displayed in her home, the 5-inch-diameter bronze medal by the Carnegie Hero Foundation in Victor’s honor.

Sharon and Mel divorced in 1975, and she later married Paul Brehmer, and gained 3 step-children, Judy, Jim and John.

Sharon had many great friends, including Pat, Kay, Sue, Joannie, Rosie and Carol to name a few. She enjoyed having coffee and gossiping with the neighborhood ladies.

Sharon also enjoyed many past times, including attending her children’s and grandchildren’s sporting events, antique shopping with her daughter-in-law Sheri and good friend Jan, gardening, in which she took much pride, and her yearly trips to Sun Lakes with family for opening day of fishing.

Sharon and Paul spent 7 years in Anchorage, Alaska, where they enjoyed the daily adventure. Camping and Salmon fishing were things they enjoyed doing together. Paul recalls a time when Sharon was in the kitchen doing dishes, while she was visited by a curious moose on the other side of the window looking in on her.

They moved back to Auburn for Paul’s job, where Sharon then worked at a child care center until it closed. She was happy to get the opportunity to spend time with their ever-growing family.

Sharon was lucky enough to have enjoyed grandchildren and even great-grandchildren. 3 grand-daughters, Brittany, Khyrsten and Jana, and 5 grandsons, Jimmy, Christopher, Jeremy, Jamie and Jason. She was also blessed with 9 great-grandchildren, Masyn, Scarlett, Viti, Dominique, Jameson, Steven, Alexander, Jennessey and Delanie.

Sharon was a very kind and generous person. She was always there to lend a helping hand and was very selfless. She had a wonderful sense of humor and always told it like it was. She never pulled any punches. Sharon will be sorely missed by her family and numerous friends.

Her family would like to thank everyone for all your help, thoughts and prayers the last couple of weeks.