Michelle Lynn Sharp

We are saddened to share the death of our wife, daughter, mother, and grandmother, Michele Lynn Sharp (Chase).

Mom had just turned 50 on October 5th of 2022. Though her life was short lived, it was full of life, family, love, adventure, and discoveries. Mom had lived in 5 different states during her life. She was born on October 5th 1972 to her parents Diane Hopkins and Thomas Chase. She was raised in Lafayette, Indiana with her siblings, Chris Chase(Jessica Chase), Misty Thompson, Melinda Salas, Sara Chase(Tiffany Chase). She ventured out of Indiana to New York, Florida, South Carolina, and finally settled in Illinois.

Mom was a caregiver through and through. She always had joy spreading love and laughter. She worked with mentally/physically disabled individuals for the last 20 years of her life. It was her passion to take care of everyone around her. As she says; she didn’t live her life for herself, she lived it for everyone she loved. She devoted her entire life to the pursuit of love for her children ( Brittany Hicks, Miranda Hicks, Sylvia Sarver, Sean Sarver, and Morgan Sarver) and for her grandchildren(Carter Wangelin, Mia Miranda, Kaylee Smith, Cayson Hicks, Kyler McCane, Aaron Weeks, Olivea Weeks, Dorian Weeks, and Jacob Weeks). Mom loved having the family gathered. She loved having her grandson Carter stay the night. Oftentimes their itinerary would include; trips to the splash park, hunting spiders in her basement, watching movies, and ordering pizza.

Mom married Timothy W. Sharp on July 5th 2003 on a riverboat in Savanna, Illinois. They were married for 19 years and 8 months. They lived in Deer Grove, IL for most of their relationship but moved to Sheffield for the last 3 years of moms life.

Mom loved spur of the moment adventures. Every chance she had to see family, she took. Nothing stopped her from finding an adventure along the way. She was definitely the type to take the “scenic route”. Mom was resilient. She had found herself in many trying situations that a lot of people don’t see themselves out of. Mom fought a lot of health issues, one of the major ones was Stage 4B Cervical Cancer. She was diagnosed in November of 2021.

After careful consideration she made the choice to fight her cancer and cure her body. She started with daily radiation appointments. After 3 weeks and some hair loss, she was ready to move forward with the next phase of her treatment, which was Chemo. The Chemo weakened her body and immune system, but never weakened her heart, or her desire to live for her family. Mom continued treatments even though it took away her hair, her body, and her ability to do what she loved, which was taking care of her individuals at Gateway Services in Princeton, IL.

She continued her treatments and she continued to be strong for her family, getting up out of bed and making herself available for all of us to talk to and see her whenever we wanted, even if she wasn’t feeling up for it. Mom caught covid, pneumonia, and salmonella in her last month of life. Any one of those things could take out a healthy person, but her will to survive was never compromised. She fought with her whole heart even though she was suffering. She wanted to survive for her children. Every mother’s worst fear is leaving her children behind.

Mom grew tired and very ill after 10 days of being in Peoria OSF hospital. She was placed in hospice and brought home to be comfortable. She died surrounded by her children, mother (Diane Hopkins) and husband in her home on March 8th at 5:15 pm. Though her physical presence has left us, her spirit and love will live through us for eternity.

Until we see you again. XOXO- your family