Sharon Lea Rothwell

Sharon Lea Rothwell (Stephensen) was born in Uniontown, PA, on September 24, 1949, the eldest daughter to Virginia (Garrett) and Jack W. Stephensen. She was sister to both Jack and Ruth Anne and they grew up in the coal mining town of Carmichaels, PA. Her childhood in rural PA included tending to and eating from a family garden, caring for livestock, and working in the family’s flower shop. Life in the country taught her that a hard working woman cannot be stopped. She met a motorcycle riding man from Pittsburgh, and is survived by this same man, Charles, her husband of 51-years. Bucking the trend at the time, Sharon and Charles sowed many years without kids, learning the best potion for raising a family is a marriage bonded by love. Sharon lovingly raised and is survived by three children, Charlie, Ashley, and Chris, and her five grandchildren, Lexi, Atreyu, London, Zoe, and Ava.

Sharon graduated with honors from the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing in 1970 and became a staff nurse in Presbyterian’s intensive care unit. Sharon and Charles moved to Southwest Florida in the mid-1970s, and both were pivotal first employees for their respective departments at the newly opened Cape Coral Hospital. Sharon continued learning and educating herself throughout her five-decade career. She received her BSN from the University of South Florida and her MSN from the University of Miami. At Miami she was valedictorian of her class and went on to sit for her nurse practitioner license. Sharon left a nurturing legacy in her local health care teaching institutions, including serving as Assistant Dean of Nursing at Edison Community College. She was a mentor, a teacher, a facilitator, and a confidant. She was a nurse through-and-through, selfless in all respects and always looking outward to those in need.

In her kids’ eyes she was beautiful, bright-eyed, tiny but mighty, and nerdy, never dropping a chance to read a book. Her kids remember a fender bender and a paperback novel; one causing the other. In the lives of those she has touched, Sharon was someone we all wanted to be: unwavering and compassionate, with a keen awareness for what was best for her patients and family.

Sharon succumbed to her own fierce, but short battle with cancer on April 22, 2022, surrounded by best friends and family in Matlacha Isles, FL. Sharon was 72.

Friends may call for Sharon at CORAL RIDGE FUNERAL HOME, 950 Chiquita Blvd S, Cape Coral FL 33991, on Saturday, May 14 from 10am until her Memorial Service at 11:30 AM.

Please join us to remember Sharon and celebrate her fierce spirit.