St. Patrick’s Day probably hit a little closer to home for those who knew Judith Sharp. Sharp was many things: an advocate, a teacher, an animal lover and much more.
But above all else, for Denise McKee, Sharp was a friend and she made that clear from the moment McKee first stepped foot in Yellowknife.
Sharp, a long-time advocate for disabled people in the North, passed away last week. She had been a board member on the NWT Disabilities Council for decades and the council held a celebration of her life on Thursday afternoon at the Baker Centre.
According to a social media post from the council on March 15, Sharp’s wish was to have the afternoon filled with stories of joy and laughter with no tears.
McKee, executive director of the disabilities council, explained that when she first landed here to work at the NWT Disabilities Council, it was right around St. Patrick’s Day. Sharp, who was at the airport to greet her latest coworker, had a surprise waiting for her.
“She was all dressed up at the airport doing the greeting. She just ran up to me and gave me a great big hug dressed up as this leprechaun with her red hair and everything,” McKee happily recounted. “I just thought, ‘Okay, I could make it here’. Everybody knew her and she would help anybody.”
The last couple of years had been hard on Sharp, McKee explained.
“But she always had a smile on her face, she was always laughing. She could find a joke in anything,” she said.
Last summer stands out as being one of the harder times for Sharp. But just as she had helped many, many helped her.
“People from the community helped her a lot, in making sure she could get out,” McKee said. “She was in Calgary — she did know a couple of people, so they would come from time to time to visit her.”
Covid was another hurdle for Sharp, seeing as she already had health issues.
Staying inside and isolated is quite the opposite to who Sharp is, McKee said.
“Judy was the social butterfly,” she said. “But people came to see her at her place.”
As for Sharp’s pets over the years, there is quite the list, but just before she passed, she had one dog. That dog is now under the care of an executor.
“That was one of her real concerns — that her pet would be taken care of,” said McKee.
There won’t ever be enough Judith Sharps in this world, let alone another one, McKee added, saying it needs a perfect balance of wit, care and the spark of life.
“She just really was living a life in full color,” she said. “And she made the decision when she wanted to leave and pass on and she went the same way she lived.”
For Sharp’s impact and memory to keep going, there’s a key takeaway for McKee: she lived her life on her own terms and some pretty solid ones at that.
“She was very kind and open and wanted everyone to treat each other with respect and kindness,” McKee said. “She was an amazing mentor to me and a really close friend.”
—By Devon Tredinnick