Sharon Tull Bohannon passed away on January 5, 2022 due to complications arising from treatment for breast cancer. She died peacefully surrounded by her family and friends and after receiving the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.
Sharon is survived by her husband Steve, daughter Katie Phillips, sons-in-law Rob Phillips and Jody Goldman, granddaughters Emmeline Phillips and Caroline Goldman, her brother David Tull, sisters-in-law Amy Tull and Susan Bohannon, nieces and nephews Ben Tull, Rebecca Guarino, Emily Pollakowski and Siobhan Bohannon, grand nieces and nephews Chance and Joseph Tull, Sienna and Brooke Guarino, Lyanna and Willa Pollakowski, and Fiona and Brianna Bohannon. Preceding Sharon into heaven was her daughter Allyson Bohannon Goldman and her parents Allan and Elaine Tull.
Sharon grew up with her family in Madison, Connecticut. In her years there she developed her love of family and music and found her life’s professional calling as a teacher, having been inspired by her own second grade teacher. After graduating from Daniel Hand High School, she headed to Cambridge, Massachusetts to attend Lesley College, a superior teaching institution, and graduated in 1980. There she met and became great friends with a number of like-minded teachers to be. One of those friends asked her to be her maid of honor, and in August 1981 she met the best man and her husband to be, Steve.
Steve and Sharon “dated” long distance. She was teaching in New Milford, Connecticut, where she was named district New Teacher of the Year, and Steve lived in Houston, Texas. The couple was engaged July 4, 1982 and were married July 23, 1983. In 1985 and 1989, her family became complete with the births of Katie and Allyson. The family thrived in the Woodlands, Texas, and agreed to a five-year transfer to Rochester Hills, Michigan. Sharon and the entire family formed forever lasting friendships in their five years there, especially with the Kruske and Pixley families.
Upon returning to Texas, this time in the Dallas area to Plano, Sharon again returned to her passion of teaching. She taught at Prince of Peace Catholic School, the family’s parish since 1997 and Allyson’s school since the fourth grade. For the next 21 years, Sharon taught and loved her parade of first graders and formed unbreakable bonds with her teammates in first grade. The entire team of teachers and assistants more than once wound up on the Bohannon patio for wine, friendship, and fellowship. For her last five years of teaching, Sharon partnered with Deb DeLong as her assistant. The pair formed a partnership that greatly benefited the students, parents, and Sharon herself. The partnership with Deb made it difficult for Sharon to finally retire at the end of the 2020 school year.
All the while Sharon was teaching, she was also excelling as the girls’ Mother. Sharon was intimately involved with the girls’ activities and lives and formed such deep relationships with Katie and Allyson’s friends. More than one of them rightly considered Sharon their additional Mom. Sharon became known to each of them as Shar-T, a nickname coined by Allyson because it resembled the way Sharon would sign her name. Shar-T was always there to help, to console, to nudge…whatever was needed for anyone who needed her. More than once she opened their home to someone who needed a place to stay, including Katie Quinton, Allyson’s best friend who became the third daughter when she moved in for the balance of high school after losing her own Mom, Noreen, to breast cancer.
Her time back in Texas was marked with remarkably deep friendships that carried through her final days. Reconnecting with Steve’s college roommate Steve and his wife Becky formed a permanent bond of support and fun between the families.
Sharon loved to take trips, and the family’s annual vacations were highly anticipated and tremendous fun. The family had numerous adventures to Disney World, a family favorite, but Sharon’s favorite way to travel was on a cruise ship. Immediate and extended family of both Sharon and Steve would go, and the girls always brought a friend or two.
Her final cruise included Steve, Katie, Allyson, Rob and Jody and remained a favorite memory involving the newly developing extended family. That trip was replayed with everyone traveling to Hawaii together, and Sharon realized she could fly long distances and it was “not too bad.” Many plans were made for future long trips, but her third bout of breast cancer and the COVID pandemic ended those dreams.
Sharon endured a difficult final two years which included the death of her father, mother, and youngest daughter Allyson. However, that time also gave her two granddaughters -- her “peanuts,” Caroline and Emmy. Nothing could light up Sharon like seeing the girls and watching them grow. Though they are not quite two years old, each girl has already had a lifetime of love from their Grammy.
Sharon played many roles in her too short 64 years: Daughter, Sister, Wife, Mom, Aunt, Grammy, Teacher and Friend. Everyone who knew Sharon would tell you that she played each role as well as anyone ever did. And she squeezed the maximum amount of joy out of each and every one of them.
Sharon Bohannon’s life will be celebrated at funeral mass at Prince of Peace Catholic Church on Saturday, January 22, 2022 at 1:00 PM with a small reception to follow in the Cana Center. Donations in honor of Sharon can be made to the Allyson Bohannon Goldman Memorial Fund at https://portal.cftexas.org/allysonbohannongoldman. The fund honoring Allyson was dear to Sharon as its formation was her idea, and the fund provides scholarships and educational opportunities.
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