Helyn G. Sharp

This is a loving tribute to my Mom, Helyn Gertrude Tossetti Sharp, age 97, who passed away peacefully in her sleep on April 30, 2020 at Asistentia Villa, in Redlands, California. She was born February 5, 1923 in San Bernardino, California, to Louis and Nellie Kinyon Tossetti. She married her high school sweetheart, Charles (Bud) Edward Sharp, Jr., on April 12, 1941, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bud worked most of his adult life at the San Bernardino City Water Department. Helyn was preceded in death by her husband, who died in June 1967 at the age of 48.

Helyn is survived by her only child, her daughter, Charlyn Sharp Sabo (and husband Dennis, of Yucaipa); four grandchildren, Kevin Sharp (and wife Jessica of Yorba Linda); Ashley Sabo (of Anaheim), and Zachariah Sabo (and Tara Stein of Mentone). Helyn was preceded in death by her grandson, Jason Sabo (of Sacramento), who passed away in 2018. Helyn is also survived by four great-grandchildren, Mia Sabo, Logan Sabo, Liam Sharp and Owen Sharp, all of California, and each one very much adored. Also surviving are many nieces, nephews, other family members and friends, who she loved very much.

Mom was the youngest of six children, and each of her siblings preceded her in death; her brothers Sam Tossetti, Paul Tossetti, and Jack Tossetti; and sisters Louise Tossetti Clough and Kathryn Tossetti Wilson. They were a very close knit family.

Mom was the granddaughter of George B. Kinyon, who was part of the family of the founding pioneers of San Bernardino. She was very proud of her family heritage and all of its rich history. At one point, the Kinyon family owned a mine in Randsburg, California, and mined it themselves. Sadly, their mine eventually went dry and everybody came back to San Bernardino.

Mom’s early education consisted of Urbita Elementary, Richardson Junior High School and San Bernardino High School, where she graduated with the Class of 1941, all located in the city of San Bernardino.

Mom enjoyed several hobbies throughout her life. She enjoyed photography so much that she decided to take classes at San Bernardino Valley College so she could better herself with her hobby. She enjoyed taking 8mm home movies and photographs that she also developed herself.

Mom enjoyed baking, so she decided to take a cake decorating class at F&W Smith in San Bernardino, which was something she found out she was pretty good at and everybody always loved her beautiful cakes!

Mom also had many hobbies and loved sharing them with her grandkids, taking them on many adventures. She always loved being outdoors. She enjoyed gardening, fishing, target shooting and camping at the beach and the mountains. She was always ready to go to the beach, with her favorite place being Oceanside, where Mom, Dad, and I had a trailer back in the 1960s . Our family and friends always enjoyed going to visit us there.

Later on in life her best friend from high school, Mary, talked her into joining a bowling league at Arrowhead Lanes in San Bernardino, with her and another friend, Pat. She made so many wonderful friends there and always enjoyed her bowling days. A few times she even scored that awesome perfect score of 300! She was pretty darned good!

On occasion, Mom would enjoy a long drive to Stateline, where she loved going with her brothers and sisters, and later on in life she would also enjoy Stateline with her fellow bowlers.

She also enjoyed cooking and having potlucks! One of the things she was known for were her deviled eggs! Boy, were they good! She also loved to barbecue and make homemade ice cream!

Mom lived in California most of her life where she was born and raised. When she was a little girl living on the homestead in San Bernardino on I Street with her parents and siblings, the Ringling Brothers circus would come to town. My grandparents would rent out some of their property on the acres they owned to the circus to build tents for the performers and the animals. The circus would come by train on the border between San Bernardino and Colton. They would take the animals off the train in their cages and then they would be pulled by elephants down to I Street and to the homestead. According to Mom, her mother was hired to cook for all the circus workers and performers. Mom said she and her brother, Jack, would lay outside in the grass and listen to the lions’ gentle roar at night time.

Mom liked to regale me with stories about her father, Louis Tossetti. Her father immigrated to the United States from Italy as a little boy in 1910. His mother ran a boarding house, where he learned to speak several languages from the roomers there. Sometimes he would make pocket change by assisting the San Bernardino police officers with translating for those people they contacted who couldn’t speak English. Mom’s father worked for Santa Fe for many years. He never learned to drive a car, and either walked to work or rode his bicycle.

Mom and Dad also lived in Patoka, Illinois, where they had a small farm for a couple years. It was just too cold and there were too many near misses with tornadoes, so they returned home to San Bernardino County. They bought a little house in Oak Glen, where dad worked for Blackie’s Apple Orchards, picking apples. They owned several homes that they refurbished themselves. They loved buying homes and fixing them up themselves and then reselling them for a profit. Daddy and Mom would do that with cars, also. They finally bought their forever home in San Bernardino on Bunker Hill Drive, where they raised me and provided me with the best childhood ever. Mom lived with Dennis and me and her grandchildren for five years in Yucaipa after a surgery, before returning to her home in San Bernardino, where she lived for four more years before suffering a stroke and then living at Asistentia Villa, in Redlands, for 3-1/2 years before passing away.

Mom had a wide variety of careers throughout her life. One of her first jobs was with my Dad (who was also her boss) at the Barbara Ann Bakery, working on the assembly line. Another job was working as a receptionist for Dr. Hansel in San Bernardino. After that she got a job at Norton Air Force Base, working on airplanes. Yes, she was one of those Rosie the Riveter gals, taking care of our soldiers’ flying machines.

In 1957, she became a mother when I was born. Mom and Dad decided she would stay home to raise their little girl until I was grown. Sadly, their hopes and dreams came to a sudden stop when Dad passed away suddenly in 1967 at the age of 48 years. After struggling to make ends meet and take care of me and our home, Mom decided it was time to go back to work. She brushed up on her typing skills and became a clerk typist. She worked at the tax building in San Bernardino for a while, and then later she worked at San Bernardino County Hospital, where she eventually retired after 16 years. Her co-workers threw her a huge retirement party, and as her retirement gift the doctors all pitched in and gave her money for her dream trip to Nashville, Tennessee. Mom had a lot of wonderful co-workers at County Hospital who became lifetime friends. She liked to remind me of how much fun they always had with their silly antics to keep them sane while working in the x-ray department. After retirement, Mom and I and her grandkids headed out on that dream trip, driving to Nashville, camping along the way, and enjoying all the sightseeing. We stopped to visit Graceland and took the whole tour of Elvis Presley’s home. We also enjoyed an entire day at Dollywood, and camped in the Smoky Mountains. Once we got to Nashville we stayed in hotels and took in all the sites. We all attended the Grand Old Opry, took a tour at the Ryman Auditorium, and rode the Mark Twain Riverboat on the lazy ‘ol river. We had a blast going to Opryland and Twittyland and taking in all the sites on a bus tour.

As she got older, Mom’s love for country music grew stronger. She started taking guitar lessons and accordion lessons, which she really enjoyed. She went to many country western concerts, one of which she won tickets through KCKC radio station, and even enjoyed the helicopter ride to the concert in the San Bernardino foothills. She also loved going up to Oak Glen to listen to her friend, Yodeling Merle, sing on the weekends. Although Country and Western music was her favorite, she also learned to enjoy the music of Bobby Sherman, who was one of my favorites when I was a kid. When I became a member of the Bobby Sherman Fan Club, Mom would go along on the fan club adventures from time to time, and the fans known as the Bobby Babes became close friends who loved Mom very much.

Mom always enjoyed adventures and making family memories! … going to Disneyland, Calico Ghost Town, and Knott’s Berry Farm. She always loved going to the LA County Fair in Pomona, as it was the place where she had her first date with her future husband, Bud. I always tried to take her there every year after that in memory of my Dad. The family always attended the National Orange Show, where many concerts were held. Mom’s mother, Nellie, attended the very first National Orange Show of San Bernardino back in 1910. Mom always loved the history of amusement parks and fairs.

Mom loved traveling up north to Santa Ynez to visit her brother, Sam, and then go to Solvang and all the missions in that area. She got in the car and traveled all the way back east to go visit some of my Daddy’s relatives, never giving it a second thought that she was by herself. We took her to Washington with us a few times to go visit Dennis’ sister, Darnice, one time picking up Darnice with all our kids in the van, and then all of us heading to Canada on vacation! We had a great time there sightseeing. Once again, we loaded up the van with mom and all the kids and went to South Carolina to see Kevin’s United States Army graduation, and then traveled on over to Virginia, where he was stationed, and then back home. She was so proud of him.

Throughout Mom’s life she was always pretty handy. If something broke, she and Daddy always figured out how to fix it. After he passed away, she carried on the tradition by taking on large tasks that most women wouldn’t dare tackle. I was so proud of her when she reroofed our huge three car garage! And, she did every single bit of it herself! She even had my dog, Spotty, up on the roof with her! Every time I would try to help her she would get upset. I was afraid on the ladder and on the roof. I think I was just in the way. So, I fed her meals and iced tea and I was her “go-for”. She also did plumbing, and every once in a while she would do some electrical work, which she was kind of afraid of, and lots of woodworking projects.

Mom always enjoyed time spent with her grandkids. She liked going to their various school functions. She really enjoyed their sporting activities, too…Jason, Kevin, and Ashley’s soccer games and Zach’s baseball games. Mom always enjoyed when the kids’ friends would gather at the house and she would hang out with them. Really, she did! They all called her grandma, too. She was always so proud to attend each of their graduations, clapping louder than any other grandma in attendance. She was always so proud that she got to be a great-grandmother and loved each of them dearly.

On July 18, 2016, my Mom suffered a light stroke at home. She called 911 herself for an ambulance and was taken to Emergency in Redlands. She was doing really good getting up, walking around, talking, and was expected to make a full recovery. They kept her overnight for observation, but during the middle of the night she suffered a massive stroke, which paralyzed her right side. On August 31st, she was taken to Asistencia Villa Rehabilitation for care and therapy. She never really regained enough strength to recover, so she spent the rest of her years there. She had several staff members who were wonderful and looked after her and cared for her with love and kindness. To those that did so, I cannot begin to thank you enough! While she was there it was a wonderful time for me to sit and listen to her tell stories from the past. We enjoyed watching home movies and listening to music and going for walks outside. I would take over meals, and we would share them together with each other or with friends and family who came to visit. We celebrated all her birthdays and holidays there to the fullest. She enjoyed getting her hair done every week, the music, the activities, the crafts, and the games they would play. Most of all, she loved her visitors. I tried to go as often as I could, and I was blessed to be able to visit her often. It was hard on her the last few weeks, as visitors were not allowed because of the coronavirus. That’s when her health started to decline. Later on, we discovered she tested positive for the coronavirus, but that was not the only cause of her death. She was tired and worn out, and I think a little sad that she couldn’t see her family. I thank everyone who took the time and was able visit her, call her, or write a note. You will never know how much that meant to her and how much I appreciated it, also. Something I learned while she was there…from her and the other residents… is that the most important gift you can give to somebody is your time, your attention, and your love! Here’s to my Mom, Helyn Sharp, and the 97 years of memories and adventures she had with family and friends. Lastly, thank you to all my dear friends who helped me through all of this. You mean the world to me. Rest In Peace, Mom.

Helyn’s funeral will be held at Green Acres in Bloomington on Monday, May 11th. However, due to the gathering limitations due to the Pandemic, only immediate family will be able to attend. A Celebration of Life will be planned when the pandemic restrictions are lifted. Should you desire to send flowers, please send to Green Acres Memorial Park and Mortuary, 11715 Cedar Avenue, Bloomington, CA. Should you want to make a donation in Helyn’s name, the family suggests her favorite charity, the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) at ASPCA Gift Processing Center, P.O. Box 96929, Washington, DC 20077-7127, or online at aspca.org.