Sharon Dorothy Shields

Sharon Shields passed away peacefully with family by her side after being placed in Hospice Care for a short while. She was born February 24, 1938 to Florian and Gertude (Camfferman) Habley. Sharon was married to Gary L. Shields of Lincoln Nebraska, where they resided for 52 years. She was widowed in 2010. Their children reside in Kansas City, MO (Susan & Robert Hiller), Salt Lake City, UT (Lori Shields & Stephen Connor), Las Vegas, NV (Janet & Anthony Walker) and Irvine, CA (Steven & Aomawa(Baker)). She had been graced with eleven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Sharon was born and raised in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. She is the second daughter of a family of six, having an older sister, Virjean, and two brothers, Martin and Wesley, born after her. She graduated J. Sterling Morton High School in Cicero, Illinois, and promptly enter Practical Nurse Training at Cook County Hospital. She was licensed in November of 1957 and in December married Gary Shields, a gentle man, from Lincoln. The next ten years saw the birth of Susan, Lori, Janet and Steven, and for those ten years Sharon worked part-time at Lincoln General Hospital in Post surgery, pediatrics, intensive care and private duty.

For the same ten years Sharon also helped support the family by designing and sewing costumes for dance recitals, wedding dresses, designing creations for a small boutique, and Miss Nebraska wardrobes – seven runners-up and one crowned Miss Nebraska. She taught sewing for three years to young women assigned to the Learning Center in Lincoln, while busy raising 4 young children and managing the family’s home.

Sharon retired in August of 2015 and she moved to Kansas City a few years later in 2020, to join her eldest daughter and son-in-law. She lived with them thru the Covid pandemic, enjoying homemade iced coffees every morning, and “Movie Day” every Tuesday afternoon with homemade snacks. She moved to a skilled nursing facility after a fall, where she resided for 3 years, and until her passing.

Sharon was always an active member of the church, both in Illinois and after moving to Lincoln. As her young family was growing up, she volunteered for 15 years as Church School Director and Youth Minister at Bethany Christian (Disciples of Christ) Church in Lincoln. The congregation saw fit to make her a paid staff person and that lasted another 12 years. This was a part-time position so she started taking courses at Cotner School of Religion and was asked to work as their librarian, another part-time position. This grew into a forty-year relationship with Cotner where she served, part-time as Executive Director, and from which she retired in 2015. Sharon also took course at Eureka College in Illinois, Doane Lincoln, the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, and Phillips Theological Seminary.

In 1986 Sharon resigned her position with Bethany to become the first shared staff person of the Christian Church (DOC) and the Nebraska Conference of the United Church of Christ, which she fulfilled for eight years. Her responsibilities were Youth, Young Adult, and Outdoor Ministries. Sharon was the first lay person asked to serve as Dean (Unit Camp) and Director (Conference Camps). Now most of the camp leadership is done by lay people.

In 1998 Cotner College and the Nebraska Conference of the United Church of Christ developed and pioneered a program called Education for Leadership Ministries (ELM). This was designed to meet the needs of trained leadership for smaller and/or rural congregations in Nebraska. At the time of Sharon’s retirement, this three-year program had close to 200 people involved or whom had graduated. Of the forty-four Disciple congregations in Nebraska, 18 were being served by commissioned minister. ELM has become an ecumenical program, as have many other Cotner programs. Sharon’s heart, her stories, her most cherished memories lay with the ELM program, the students, instructors and friends she made while on her life’s journey.

Sharon’s volunteer positions with Interchurch Ministries of Nebraska included: two years as Chairperson of Christian in Society Forum, Peace and Justice, for six years and chairperson for two more years; presenter of Hope is Something You Do workshop for, presented across Nebraska, South Dakota and Kansas; helped develop Learning within Reach, a church school curriculum for congregations with limited resources; helped develop the Work in Deed and From the Boat TV teacher training series; served as liaison to the Encampment for the Lincoln Committee of Concerned People supporting the Wounded Knee Trial; led six workshops around the state on world hunger; was a published writer having articles in The Disciple and the UCC News. For a while, Sharon wrote for a neighborhood newspaper covering sports and other activities in the Bethany and Havelock areas of Lincoln.

Other volunteer or elected positions Sharon had held include; served eight years on the National Advisory Committee on Outdoor Ministries; served six years on the Board of Nebraskans for Peace; served six years on the Board of Women’s Institute for Theology; worked twenty years with an ecumenical peace group which annually brought noted speakers to Lincoln; developed the International Affairs Seminar along with Carl Burkhardt, and was Director or Co-Director, and field staff for nine years. This seminar for high school juniors, seniors and college freshmen was an important program in the Region and Conference. Other paid positions (part-time) Sharon held were; Church World Service Refugee Resettlement Coordinator in Nebraska through IMN, two years; served a six-month interim ministry with Elmwood and Unadilla Christian Churches.

A Celebration of Sharon’s life is scheduled for August 24th. Family, friends, and colleagues are invited to join us for an Open House style gathering from 12 PM to 2PM, at Bethany Christian Church, 1645 N Cotner, Lincoln, Nebraska. This casual celebration will be a time to gather together, and to share with each other, stories and remembrances of Sharon. If you wish, please send memorials lovingly in Sharon’s name, to the charity or organization that calls to your heart.

She believed God was in the question, and that faith was a journey with no destination. God has opened a door for her, her questions, and her joyful spirit to be received. While she felt her work would never be finished, she was taken gracefully from all of us on June 20th, 2024. She was a true example of Ministry in Action.