Katie Sharon died Saturday, February 3, 2024, at Boone Hospital Center in Columbia.
A celebration of life will be held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, February 17, 2024, at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Missouri, with Rev. Dr. Phil Olsen officiating. Visitation will be from 1 to 2 p.m. at the church.
Memorials are suggested to family choice, as the total will be divided equally between CASA, the Mental Health Association of Saline County, and Covenant Presbyterian Church. Friends may sign the online register book at www.campbell-lewis.com.
Kathleen Johanna Dirks Sharon was born in Anamosa, Iowa on September 7, 1939, to Elda Wilhelmina Louisa Brunscheen Dirks and George Wesley Dirks. Katie grew up in post-depression rural Iowa and learned how to whistle during WWII air raid drills. She watched her father teach WWII fighter pilots how to fly, work on his mother’s farm, and work as a millwright. She helped her mother take care of everyone in their neighborhood. She loved school and dreamed of being a teacher.
Katie met her sweetheart, Mel, when she was a freshman and he (a senior) was her school bus driver in 1954. She waited for him while he served his country in the Air Force in Okinawa, and they married on June 7, 1958. Their first daughter, Melany, was born in 1959 in Columbus, Indiana while Mel was stationed nearby. Laura was born in 1966 in Iowa City while Katie finished her master’s degree. She made sure her daughters had opportunities to learn, travel, worship, serve, and play music. She was also an exceptional cook and could always be found in the kitchen.
Katie was a champion for books, education, inclusion, and music; but most importantly, children.
She taught in public schools in Iowa, Minnesota, inner-city Kansas City, and Marshall, Missouri, moving to a new place each time Mel was transferred by Wilson Foods. She received 42 roses from her daughters on the last day of school in 2001. She loved but wasn’t easy on her students, with many parents describing her as “the teacher they needed at just the right time”. She received several awards and honors during those 42 years of teaching, but none mattered as much as the love her former students showed her when they saw her in public.
Katie taught all ages. She helped to establish a preschool in the 70’s, then went on to teach elementary special education and finally 6th grade. She helped to establish the “Bueker Bucks” program at her middle school which is still used today. She then became an adjunct professor for Missouri Valley College, teaching Education for the Exceptional Child, and invited Laura to co-teach with her. She assisted with teaching a basic Spanish class at her church. She was a brilliant woman and grammar enforcer and wrote many successful grants.
Katie was also a dedicated servant of her community. She became a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer in 2005, to “make things better for the children”. She was honored for her work in 2006 with the quarterly Lieutenant Governor’s Senior Service Award and was featured in an article in She Magazine.
Katie was an early founding member of the Mental Health Association of Saline County, serving as secretary several times. This is where she established her most beloved project, the Preschool Reading Program. She purchased the books, recruited and trained volunteer readers, and participated as a reader to preschoolers until just before Christmas. She said it was her reason for living.
She was a member of many church, women’s, and book clubs. She and Mel were also members of the Boots and Slippers Square Dance Club for several years. She valued those friendships dearly.
Her friends described her best, as an extraordinary woman in a tiny package who never backed down from a challenge. But first and foremost, she was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and sister.
Katie is survived by her husband, Mel; brother John (Annette) Dirks of Scotts Valley, CA; sister Marlene Nordby of Winter Haven, Florida; sister-in-law Stephanie Dirks of Des Moines, IA; daughter Melany (Mark) Duncan of Olathe, KS; daughter Laura (Randy) Beasley of Marshall; granddaughter Michelle (Jesus) Cabrera of Olathe; granddaughter Melissa (Tim) Sanford of Olathe; grandson Truman (Allie) Beasley of Greenwood, MO; grandson Zach Duncan of Olathe; granddaughter Jessica (Wyatt) Vancamp of Antoine, AR; and great-grandchildren Kaylee Bliss, Landon Sanford, Lawson Sanford, Aubree Cabrera, and Elizabeth Beasley; and several wonderful nieces, nephews, and cousins.
She was preceded in death by her parents and a brother, Eldon Dirks.