Heroic mother had a profound impact

Some people are born stars. They arrive on this Earth as white-hot light, like the tip of a Fourth of July sparkler, and shine so brightly people can’t help but notice.

By all accounts, former Kalispell resident Sharrie Shelton Duncan was one of those rare bright lights who mesmerized everyone around her, if not with her extraordinary athletic ability then with her charisma, kindness and character.

She was taken from this world much too early two weeks ago when an unexpected monster wave swallowed her along the scenic coast in Positano, Italy.

Seconds before she succumbed to the sea, she pushed her 12-year-old son into the arms of rescuers, giving her life to save his. As fate would have it, Sharrie’s death — witnessed around the world on grainy cell-phone footage — was as extraordinary as her life.

So what was it about Sharrie that left such an indelible mark on those who knew her?

Certainly her athletic ability as a child and young adult was noteworthy. She was a standout swimmer, diver, runner, jumper and equestrian. Her swimming and diving coach from 40 years ago wrote a comment on the Inter Lake website, saying Sharrie was a “spectacular 10-year-old at the time. It does not surprise me that she was a spectacular human in every sense since then.”

But athletic ability alone does not define a person. It’s character. I believe what set Sharrie apart was aptly explained by her brother Randy: “She was totally nonjudgmental of other people.”

She accepted everyone as having the same worth, and that’s a remarkably rare quality.

One of her high-school classmates, Lisa Stack of Whitefish, wrote to me, noting that “Sharrie always transcended the walls of status, popularity, intelligence, beauty … she embraced everyone she met with genuine, true love.”

Imagine a world full of Sharries who treat people as equals, who don’t judge people by their looks, income or personality.

As I talked with Sharrie’s brother in the days after her death, he told me how in Naples, Italy, where Sharrie and her family had lived for just a year, people flowed into the streets as word of her death spread, sharing their disbelief that she was gone.

The local market closed in her honor.

How many of us will leave that kind of an impact when we’re gone?

Carlos Collazo, a family friend who provided the photograph used with the Inter Lake story about Sharrie’s death, e-mailed to thank me for the article. He had told Sharrie’s mother, Margie, that “had she not been able to save him [her son] and survived — that alone would have killed her. She lived her life as a flower, and died as a heroine!”

It’s clear to me that Sharrie never knew how many lives she touched.

Susan Erickson, a Flathead High School alumnus and 1973 Miss Bravette, named her daughter after Sharrie. Erickson was a lifeguard at the Woodland Park swimming pool during her teen years and remembers Sharrie and her two sisters, “three little blondes,” and their brother Randy spending full afternoons at the pool practicing their diving skills.

“Sharrie would coach her sisters, and it was how she treated her brother and sisters” that was so remarkable, Erickson recalled. “She was never pompous or self-righteous. She was just so sweet all the time. She was such a bright light in my life.”

There it is again, that bright light, shining inexplicably.

Erickson remembers how at the end of the day, Sharrie would slip away from her siblings and give Erickson diving tips.

“When my daughter was born, I thought that if she could be anything like Sharrie, I’d be proud,” she said.

After learning of her death, Erickson found herself more distraught than she expected. For some reason, she was drawn to Moose’s Saloon, the place where she had worked part time in high school making pizzas. In times of tragedy, people migrate to familiar places, she supposed. What struck her was that everyone at Moose’s knew Sharrie in some context. They shared their stories.

Erickson’s two sisters also were close with the Shelton family. Her brother-in-law, Cody Houston, a well-known sculptor from Ulm, made a bronze statue of Sharrie posed in her English riding gear. And just two months ago, Erickson’s mother gave that bronze to her daughter, Sharrie’s namesake.

If ever we doubt the impact one person can have, we should all think of Sharrie. I didn’t know her, but she’ll live on by the stories people now are sharing. She’s a shining example of humanity as it should be.

I like Lisa Stack’s observation: “The world is a little dimmer without her… but heaven is a whole lot brighter.”

 Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com