Sharon LaRue Umemoto

June 4, 1939 – December 22, 2024

Forever Loved – Mom, Grandma, Wife and Best Friend

Sharon LaRue Umemoto

Following the winter solstice, as the earth again tilted toward longer sunlit days, Sharon LaRue Umemoto, 85 of Kenmore, WA, peacefully departed this life on December 22, 2024.  Left behind to cherish her memory are her husband, Ernest Umemoto; daughter, Betsy Kennedy James and her husband, Christopher; grandsons: Cameron, Colin and Carson Kennedy James, and sister, Marilee Lopez and her husband, Robert.

Sharon is predeceased by her parents, Melvin and Deloris Neuman of LaPorte, IN; brother, Jim Neuman and wife, Jan, of Midlothian, VA; son, Cameron Kennedy of San Jose, CA; and former husband, John Kennedy of Los Angeles, CA.

Born on June 4, 1939 Sharon grew up near LaPorte, IN. She was valedictorian of her Rolling Prairie High School graduating class of 1957, and earned her bachelor’s degree at the then Ball State Teachers College, now Ball State University, in Muncie, IN where she formed many lifelong friendships while active in the Chi Omega sorority.

After college Sharon and John Kennedy moved to Santa Barbara, CA where Cameron was born in 1965 and Betsy three years later.  Following their divorce Sharon served as the Alumni Association Secretary at Brooks Institute of Photography, keeping in touch with graduates around the world while managing local and out of state events.

Sharon met Ernie through the Alumni Association Board of Directors meetings held in Santa Barbara several times each year.  In 1975 Sharon moved to San Jose, CA with Cameron and Betsy to begin a new chapter with Ernie and the Umemotos.  They were immediately welcomed and embraced by all the new aunts, uncles, cousins and most of all by Ernie’s mom, Shizuyo Umemoto.

Following their wedding, Sharon took a position with the Santa Clara County Office of Education as a special education aide and ascended in her 24 years of service to become the community liaison for the development of employment opportunities for qualified special needs students and administered the program.  Her challenge was to identify potential employers, establish workplace guidelines, develop parental support and teach the use of public transportation for each student client.

She also truly enjoyed teaching English as a Second Language to eager recently arrived adults from many foreign lands.

Many of her colleagues and associates at the County Office of Education were like minded individuals that socialized outside the office.  The monthly Bunco Group with some food, a bit to drink and lots of conversation was Sharon’s favorite. Several of the group kept in touch long after retirement, including a weekend sleepover at the Kenmore condo and other destination reunions.

After retirement in 2003 the great northwest beckoned.  Betsy had started her family in Bothell, WA and Grandma was ready to be a Grandma. The move north was first to Seattle’s Madison Park neighborhood to learn about the Seattle area and look for a house.

The Number 11 bus was at her doorstep and provided a magic carpet ride to the cultural buffet in downtown Seattle.  Sharon was entertained by

more in person artistic and cultural delights in her Washington years than in all her previous years. Concerts, night clubs, live theater, museum exhibits and a wide variety of local festivals were always nearby.  The Manhattan Transfer Quartet, The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra and The Seattle Men’s Chorus were her favorites.

The home search led her to Kenmore where Sharon fell in love with the condo apartment at Inglewood Shores on Lake Washington, and the drive to the Jameses was now ten minutes, not 30 or 40.  She served on the Board of Directors of her Homeowners Association for two terms and was also a founding volunteer at the Kenmore Senior Citizens Center where she was a regular participant for a dozen years or more.

She reveled in sharing everyday activities of life with her grandsons as toddlers, adolescents and young men. Birthdays, ball games, Fourth of Julys, Rice Crispy Bunnies, Halloweens, Northwest Trek, graduations, Thanksgivings, decorating Christmas cookies, Tent Fests, New Years Days, swimming at the condo pool, watching float planes, are the beginning of a long list of things and life events shared with the Jameses that nurtured her soul and filled her heart over the years.

Between local engagements she found time to travel with Ernie to places of interest and to catch up with well dispersed friends and family across the country and beyond. Their travels took them to half the United States, Western Canada, Iceland, The UK, Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Mexico and Cuba.   A Rick Steves European tour took them to six countries and they spent a couple of weeks on a self guided exploration of Paris and environs.

On a few occasions she and Ernie visited Scotland and notably In 2016, they and the James family visited Scotland together. She had a special place in her heart for Scotland and all her Scottish friends, especially the warm and welcoming Kennedy relatives, Betsy’s kin, in Ayrshire, and for those at BraeHead Farm near Kilmarnock in particular.  It was her wish that the way there, and the way here, be well traveled by generations to come.

In her leisure time she took great delight in good friendly conversations, enjoyed a good book and was ever willing to fall under the spell of compelling British dramas on PBS.

From her favorite window-side chair she would take in the panorama of daily human activities passing through her end of Lake Washington, and would also watch for migrating birds, and the changing colors and myriad moods of the seasons.  Anticipated and expected, the flow of natural events was a refreshing affirmation of continuing life.

Delightful, thoughtful, warmhearted and often a bit whimsical, Sharon will be remembered for loving her loving family, for her pleasant wit and graceful charm, for her willingness to do more than expected and for always wanting to do the right thing.

She is missed, cherished and revered for her endearing kindness and enduring love.