Sharon Kay Cravens

Her roots in Burnet County run deep. She was a great great granddaughter of Elizabeth Garrett, great granddaughter of Rhyburn Bowden and Mary Catherine Garrett, all pioneers of the Lake Victor settlement in the 1870’s. She was a granddaughter of RS “Dude” Bowden of the Lake Victor area and Willie Jones Bowden of the Sage Community.

She was the great great granddaughter of Stephen Francis Jones and Mary Alice Bible, and granddaughter of George Newton Jones and Mary Belle Singleton, all pioneers of the Sage Community in the 1870’s.

She was the daughter JC “Jake” Strahan and Merle Catherine Bowden of Burnet. Sharon played the clarinet in the Bulldog band and was Band Sweetheart in 1964. Actually, she was a sweetheart to everyone. We met at Southwest Texas State University now Texas State University in 1968 and were married five months later.

We settled in San Antonio. I worked at USAA as a programmer and she taught school in South San Antonio. In 1973 our first child, Zac was born and Sharon gave up a very promising teaching career to stay home with the kids. Jesse came along in 1975 and Kasey in 1979.

Sharon is survived by me, Ronald “Ron” Cravens. We shared 51 wonderful years for both of us and the final four years that were filled with heartache and despair.

She is survived by her sister Sandra Strahan Turner who has been and is still a great help to me. Sandra has son Mark Turner and wife Diane and daughter Kelly Tefertiller and husband Steve and their daughters Shannon and Peyton.

Sharon is survived by our three children, Zac and wife Jennifer who have two children, Cole and Molly. Our son Jesse and his wife Amy also have two children, Carter and Lindley. Our daughter Kasey and her husband Jason Grewe have three children, Emma, who will sing at the funeral, Jacob and the last, little Victoria. Sharon and I are very proud of our little band of 15, they are all successful and happy and live near us. It doesn’t get any better than that.

I give Sharon most of the credit for raising the kids. I always worked long hours and Sharon handled most everything else in a most exemplary fashion. Plus she was the sweetest person I ever met and the most beautiful woman I have ever known. How did I manage that? Just dumb luck on my part, we just fit each other’s needs perfectly. We were truly “joined at the hip” for all those decades.

No one should ever feel sorry for me for losing her. I had her company for fifty-one years when she was healthy, gorgeous and just perfect for me. Every person should have a mate like that.

Sharon was a high energy sort and once the kids were well along in school, she began buying and selling antiques and became very expert in that. So that when all of the kids were in college, Zac and A&M, Jesse at Rice, and Kasey at UTSA and her mother needing help with family business in Burnet we just uprooted, sold out my business, our home and rent properties, moved to Burnet and opened our first Antique store on the square. We opened another one and closed the smaller one, operating that store for fifteen years until Sharon became ill.

We pursued every possibility in diet, meds, supplements, exercise, hoping to find a miracle cure. We found a doctor in California who gave us hope and we did lose about 30 pounds each which didn’t hurt a thing but after a year we were told that those who had success had started years earlier, we were just too late.

The visitation for Sharon will be held Wednesday December 20 from 4-6 pm at Clements-Wilcox Funeral Home. Her funeral will be held Thursday December 21 at 2 pm at the Vanderveer Street Church of Christ. Interment will follow at Burnet City Cemetery. Those named as pallbearers were Zac Cravens, Jesse Cravens, Cole Cravens, Carter Cravens, Jason Grewe, Cody Schoenfeld, Mark Turner and Steve Tefertiller.

We are very grateful for the care she received at the Oaks Nursing Home in Burnet especially by Dixie Phillips, the Oaks receptionist and go-to lady whenever we needed help. Krystal Williams of Altus Hospice was a great help during Sharon’s final months.

I am very grateful for the kind words and sympathy extended by so many in the Burnet Community. Thank you all.