Obituary of Sharon Mae Rand

Sharon Rand, 89 years old, of Waukesha Wisconsin, passed on Saturday, August 14, 2021. She was born in Milwaukee Wisconsin in 1932 and grew up in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Sharon graduated top of her high school class in 1950.  She worked as a Court Recorder for Judge Steal in the Court House during her junior and senior year. Sharon attended UW Stevens Point (formerly known as Wisconsin Teachers College) where she made lifelong friends with her Omega Mu Chi sorority sisters.  She spent college summers working at The Morey Resort in northern Wisconsin where she met her future husband, Keith Rand, from Eagle River. They were married in June, 1954. She started her career as a First-Grade teacher in West Allis. Teaching was the joy of her life, and each student was special. Keith and Sharon had two children, daughter Tori, and son Craig. She returned to teaching in 1960 and entered the Greendale school system in 1962.  She taught at many schools in Greendale (Ambruster, Canterbury and College Park) for the rest of her teaching career. Sharon always talked about “her kids”, which included Tori and Craig as well as the students in her class.  She went on to get a Master’s degree in Education from UWM in 1972. One summer Sharon was an exchange teacher in Scotland, and then a Foreign Study League counselor in Europe. Her love and dedication to teaching for 30 years was acknowledged by colleagues, parents, students and friends.  Family road trips were an annual summer adventure visiting each of the 50 states with her family in the family station wagon. She also traveled to the Caribbean, Europe and Asia. You could always find Sharon in her yard, planting flowers, watering, tending to the trees that she planted, and  watching her wild birds and deer and raccoons, and a peacock that adopted her. She was an active member of the Waukesha Garden Club. Sharon was widowed in 2010, it was a difficult loss, as she and Keith had been married over 50 years.  She met Allen Dean Larson and they enjoyed over a decade together in Waukesha, and spent some time in San Diego, California and France.  Sharon Rand was a very special lady. She was a spark of pure joy in the lives of everyone she knew. Her legacy of thoughtfulness, generosity, her sense of humor and kindness will be a comfort to all who knew her. She will be missed.  

The visitation for Sharon will be held from 10AM until the time of the 11AM memorial service, followed by a reception on Friday, October 8, 2021, at St. Marks Ev. Lutheran Church, 424 Hyde Park Ave., Waukesha, WI 53188. The Rev. Andy Fetters will be officiating.