Sharon was born in Cookeville, Tennessee, on August 19, 1952. After graduating from Putnam County Senior High School, she earned a degree in Biology from Tennessee Technological University. She then spent 10 years working in paleontology for Chevron Oil in New Orleans, Louisiana.

After a decade in her career, she finally stepped into the role she had always wanted: motherhood. At 31, she began building her family in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she lived for the next decade before moving to Picayune, Mississippi, her home for the last 33 years of her life. Education mattered deeply to Sharon, and homeschooling her 5 children gave her the opportunity to be directly involved. As those homeschooling years were winding down, she took a leap at 55 and went back to school to earn her teaching license. She was hired by the Picayune Public School System as a Special Needs Inclusion Teacher at Nicholson Elementary School, where she taught until she retired at 69. Her love of educating special needs children was born out of her own experience of educating her own with a child on the Autism Spectrum.

Anyone who knew Sharon knew that the two most important things in her life were her faith in Jesus Christ and her love and devotion to her five children. Early in her teaching career, she became a passionate advocate for autism awareness in her community and did everything in her power to find resources and help for those so often overlooked. Sharon was a safe place for many children. She made it her personal mission to make sure the kids in her community had food to eat, clothes to wear, a ride to church programs, or a hug (even when she wasn’t always supposed to give one in the classroom). She loved people dearly, and her community was better because of it.

Sharon had a genuine kindness, acceptance, and love not only for her beloved children, but for everyone she met. For more than three decades, she humbly and diligently served her community, mainly through Resurrection Life Church. She served as Children’s Co-Minister for a season (though she avoided getting behind the mic for announcements at all costs), volunteered in the special needs Sunday School class, as well as worked with students at the Manna Ministries Head and Heart Tutoring Program. Many in the community called her sweet, a Southern belle, stately, and at times even saintly. To her children, she was their rock, their safe place, their nurturer, a fantastic cook, and “late” everywhere she went. Some of them eventually got over it; others have carried on her “late to places” legacy themselves.

Sharon was a green thumb through and through, and once most of her children had left home, she treated her plants like children. She loved having her family around at a moment and would put on a pot of coffee at 10 p.m. if it meant “chatting” just a little while longer. Even as adults, it wasn’t uncommon to find all 5 piled in her bed around her late at night chatting for hours usually laughing uncontrollably. She was a loving and loyal friend, especially to her Baton Rouge besties of 40 years, Tama Collier and Diane Lyles, who talked her into a variety of wild adventures over the years. Her voice was never the loudest in the room, but her lovingkindness was, and everyone who knew her was better for getting one of her hugs.

Sharon is survived by her children, Meghan Thurman Finley (Brandon Finley), Sharon Nicole Artabasy (Karen Artabasy), Jonathan Thomas Thurman, Thomas Gabriel Thurman (Elizabeth Thurman), and Thomas David Thurman; her granddaughter, Clara Odette Thurman; her siblings, Gary Steakley and Suzzane Steakley Love; and her brother-in-law, John Thurman. She was preceded in death by her parents, Bobbie Jean Brown Steakley and Billy Steakley.

All are welcome to come celebrate Sharon’s life and legacy she leaves behind at Resurrection Life Church 1407 South Haugh Avenue, Picayune, MS 39466 on Wednesday, November 4th, 2026. Visitation will start at 10 a.m., followed by a service at 11 a.m.

Sharon loved flowers, but she loved her community even more. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her honor to Manna Ministries, Inc. (https://www.mannaministry.net/donate ) or the Sav-A-Life Pregnancy Support Services (https://savalifems.org/ ) .