Mary Jo Sharpe

Mary Jo Sharpe, age 81, died on Wednesday, February 21, 2018 in the Hernando-Pasco Hospice Care Center, a caring and loving facility in Brooksville, Florida. From her birth in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, on October 27, 1936 to her death on Wednesday she nourished people around her with love, faith and profound courage and grace through her long illness.

She was born to Joseph W. Richardson, Jr. and Mary Modest Patterson of Portageville, Mo. and was the eldest of two children. She attended Saint Eustachius Catholic School and Portageville High School. She studied piano at Our Lady of Victory Academy in Fort Worth, TX and was an accomplished pianist and musician. She married her high school sweetheart, Jimmy R. Inman, in 1954. Tragically, her husband was taken from her and their seven children in an automobile accident in 1966. Mary Jo met Ervin C. "Sandy" Sharpe, Major General (Ret), USAF in Fort Lauderdale Florida in 1970 to begin a 47 year marriage and 31 years of service to the United States Air Force and the Nation.

She was the first lady of a Squadron, a Center and an Air Force Wing which was then at war during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. She has numerous citations of service to the families left behind. Mary Jo will also be remembered and loved as a bright, shining light in the various communities, organizations and churches she served, particularly Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, the Knights of Columbus and the VFW in Beverly Hills, FL.

Left to honor Mary Jo and remember her love are 8 children, Robbie (Susan), Teri (Jim), Kim (Lou), Jina (John), Cindy, Kelly, Amy, and step-daughter Kaylynn (John); sixteen grandchildren; and twenty-two great-grandchildren; a brother, Joseph W. Richardson, III and sister-in-law, Rose Mary, and niece Dena of Memphis, TN. Mary Jo was preceded in death by her parents and two great-grandchildren.

A Rosary Service will be held at Fero Funeral Home, 5955 N Lecanto Hwy, Beverly Hills, FL 34465, on March 18, 2018 from 5 PM to 7 PM. Funeral services will be held on Monday, March 19, 2018 at 11:00 am at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, 6 Roosevelt Blvd, Beverly Hills, FL 34465, with the Rev. Father Frank Lubowa officiating. Inurnment will follow at a later date in Arlington Cemetery, Washington, D.C. The family will greet friends from 2:00 to 4:00 pm on Sunday, March 18 at the Fero Funeral Home, and again at church on Monday from 10:00 am until the time of service. The Sharpe family would like to extend our gratitude to all the loving caregivers at HPH and Citrus County Memorial Hospital, Inverness FL for their compassion and loving care over the years of need. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Mary Jo Sharpe's name to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital at http://giftfunds.stjude.org/MaryJo.

Arrangements entrusted to

Fero Funeral Home

www.ferofuneralhome.com