Sharon Joanne (Mead) Stewart, 91, passed away peacefully on January 13, 2026 in Venice, Florida, surrounded by her family. Sharon was many things at once; beautiful, curious, endlessly creative, and impossible to confine. Though her body grew old her spirit never did. She often said she was a young woman trapped in a timeworn woman’s body and anyone who knew her understood exactly what she meant.

Born in Detroit, Sharon moved through life with an artist’s eye and an open heart. She was the daughter of the late Arthur Mead and Mary T. (Rei) Mead. Before moving to Florida, Sharon was active in the Michigan art community and served as president of the Palette and Brush Club. As a young woman, Sharon experienced a profound conversion to Christianity and developed an intensely personal relationship with Jesus Christ, her Lord and Savior. Her faith was not loud or performative, but steady and real. She relied on it, spoke of it simply, and trusted it completely. She named her daughter Faith as an expression of that belief.

Sharon was sincerely devoted to her daughters, Vikki and Faith. She shared a close and adoring relationship with them throughout her life, and she was immensely proud of the women they became. Sharon shared an extraordinary life united with her beloved husband, James W. Stewart. Together for 75 years, married for 70 fabulous years they had been inseparable since Sharon and Jim were high school sweethearts. Jim was the love of her life. His death on February 14, 2025, broke her heart, and she never truly recovered from his loss.

She was preceded in death by her only sibling, her beloved brother Arthur “Art” Mead, to whom she was very close. In a quiet symmetry that would not have surprised her, Sharon died on Art’s birthday, and the day after her passing marked the tenth anniversary of his death.

Sharon and Jim eventually retired to Sarasota, Florida where she lived for over 30 years. Sharon became a co-owner in “Art Uptown Gallery” for more than two decades allowing her to share her art with the public. Being an artist was not just her profession but her language. She loved repurposing ordinary, overlooked things and turning them into something amazingly beautiful. Sharon saw possibility everywhere, on canvases, in found objects, and in people. She was known to keep scissors in her car so she could stop and snip cattails or Queen Anne’s lace to bring home and arrange. She loved beautiful odds and ends, baubles, scraps of paper, sequins, and whatever ordinary thing caught her eye (though it was never ordinary to Sharon), including chasing and catching dragonflies. She delighted in style, presentation, and the simple joy of making an impression and delighting the senses of the viewer.

Sharon was a gifted listener. She would sit with a stranger listening enthusiastically to their entire life story thanking them graciously for sharing THEIR time, words and experiences with her. She was the kind of person who made others feel special simply by paying attention. To her family, she was a constant source of companionship and wisdom.

Sharon is survived by her daughters Faith Myers (Stewart) and Vikki Lasota (Steven); her nine grandchildren, Leah Sponaugle (Troy), Blake Lasota (Sarah), Austin Lasota, Brynn Boyd, Blair Boyd, Melissa Spadafore (Charlie), Andrea Smith (Allen), Christina Myers, Janine Myers and her six great-grandchildren, Troy, Liberty, and Lily Sponaugle, Charlie and Franklin Spadafore and Finn Smith who brought her great joy.

Sharon was never tied down by age, expectation, or gravity. She had too many creative ideas. Too much curiosity. Too much determination.  Too much life in her. In the end, she was simply too big to be held anymore, and now, at last, she is free in her eternal home.