Sharon Stevens Allred

Sharon Stevens Allred, aged 78 and 7 months and 14 days, passed away at home surrounded by her family and loved ones due to complications related to cancer. Death reunited her with her husband of 58 years, Bruce Parry Allred. Together, they created and raised four children, DeMae, Devin, Dallas, and David. Sharon insisted that it is a coincidence that all of her children’s names start with the letter “D”. Most reasonable people question that claim.

Sharon was born in Salt Lake City, the third oldest of Keene and Ireta Steven’s six children. As a young girl, she walked five miles to school, uphill both ways and in ugly storms that persisted year round. None of her survivors quite understand how that is possible, but nobody dares to question it. A fun, relatively unknown fact, both she and her husband attended the same elementary and high schools, but she was still in elementary school when he graduated. He claimed it had something to do with grades and she claims it’s something to do with old age. Discrepancies aside, it did not take Bruce long to sweep Sharon off her feet once she did graduate high school. The two were married and sealed together when Sharon was 19 in the Salt Lake City Temple on 2/09/1962. Shortly after their wedding, the newlywed couple moved down to Arizona, where they welcomed their first, and most demanding, child to their family, DeMae. After a brief stint in Arizona, the young family moved to Hayward, California where their second, and most perfect child, Devin, joined them. Four years after Devin, cupid delivered Dallas on Valentine’s Day, creating a family of five. Eight years to the day later, Cupid dropped off another baby to the family, David Donlee. Together the family enjoyed countless trips to the lake, weekly pizza nights with Bruce’s famously undrinkable home brewed root beer, and hosting hordes of family and friends during the holidays. At one Thanksgiving, Sharon managed to host 45+ people in their home, and not a single guest left hungry.

32 years into their marriage, Bruce’s time in mortality came to a premature end. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Sharon kept her chin up, and lived a life full of service, travel, and family. She was a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. As a member, she served in many church callings, worked at multiple temples, and served as a senior missionary in the North Carolina Raleigh Mission where she made many lifelong friends, including the one and only Pat Strange. (Pat would later move to Salt Lake where she and Sharon’s friendship grew exponentially. Pat braved Covid and steadfastly sat by Sharon’s side until the very end.) After her missionary service ended, Sharon left California (as anyone with half a brain should) and came back to Utah to be closer to her father and other family members. In Utah, she joined the Sweet Charity Sisters, a quilting organization that has donated more than $1,500,000 in quilts to local Utah charities ranging from children’s hospitals to deployed military units. Her home served as the organization’s base of operations for many years. In addition to her efforts with the Sweet Charity Sisters, Sharon looked for every day opportunities to serve others. I’ll share one of those with you. Last year, she spent the entire year collecting her loose change in a jar. She did not know what she was going to do with the jar of change, but knew she wanted to use the money to help someone. By the end of the year, she had $112.14 in that jar. That jar ended up going to a special needs adult who used the money to buy Christmas presents for his family that year. Her deliberate act of service had a ripple effect that provided Christmas for an entire family.

Sharon and Bruce had many plans for retirement, including a lot of travel. Even without Bruce, the travel still commenced. Sharon spent a summer in New York with her granddaughter, Jeanette, where the two bonded over pizza and Broadway plays. She made it to Australia, the land of the late great Steve Irwin. She took a cruise to Spain and Morocco with her sister Kay and Kay’s husband Mike. She spent a summer bouncing around Europe with Sue and John Schwendiman, staying at hostels with unisex showers. She made her way up to Alaska and down to the Caribbean, and just about every spot in between. Even as her grays turned to whites, she maintained an active life style. She joined her son David and his wife Tina on trips to Bear Lake, and made her way south to Tuacahn in St. George annually with the Red Hat Ladies. Everywhere she went, she came back with stories that she loved to share.

Above all else, Sharon loved her family. All four of her children are married with families of their own. She has 14 grandchildren, covering a 30-year spread, four grandchildren-in-laws, and six great-grandchildren. Sharon had the unique ability to make every person she encountered feel loved. She touched many lives and will be dearly missed, but we know that we will all be reunited. Until then, “loved you then, love you still, always have, and always will”.

Services will be held on Wednesday November 18, 2020. Only immediate family will be able to attend due to Covid restrictions. If you would like to leave a note or share a favorite memory, please email SSAllred1@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you!

In place of flowers, the family wishes you donate to the Craniofacial Foundation of Utah https://cranioutah.com/donate/, a cause Sharon cared dearly about.