Sharon Anderson Iverson

The youngest of five children born to Paul Eugene Anderson and Berniece Allred, Sharon was an energetic child. She found her singing voice early and began performing, playing the violin, helping at her dad’s office supply store, and winning hopscotch competitions at her Brigham City, Utah elementary school.

By junior high, she added speech festivals, playing in the orchestra and her name to the honor roll. In high school, she continued those activities, in addition to joining the B’ettes Pep Club and the school newspaper staff, performing in school plays and musicals, even entering “Dairy Princess” scholarship contests. She was the only girl in her chemistry class, and she aced it!

Sharon continued singing in musicals at Weber State College after high school graduation, where she again was an honor roll student and worked in the dean’s office. After completing her first year, Sharon married her high school sweetheart, Kelly Iverson, on June 28, 1963, in Brigham City. That December, they relocated to Los Angeles, California, where their first two children, Daren and Amber, were born.

With Sharon’s love of learning, she soon enrolled at the local community college, cared for her children and nieces, and worked part-time as a communication aide for the Los Angeles County Office of Education. Within four years, she became a full-time student at Cal State L.A. and earned her B.S. in speech pathology.

In 1979, the family made a temporary move to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where another son, Leif, and her M.S. in Communication Disorders from New Mexico State University arrived at the same time.

Upon returning to California, Sharon’s more than 30-year career as a speech pathologist began. She worked for the Los Angeles County, L.A. Unified, and Long Beach school districts. She loved being able to assist and advocate for her special-needs students. In the later years, she became a passionate advocate for educators as a California Teachers Association Union leader and delegate to the National Education Association, traveling to conventions around the world and, like her father, serving in the Lion’s Club.

Sharon loved reading, book and fitness clubs, gardening, her three children, 13 grandchildren, and two pups. In 2012, she married Robert Hill and became his “cruise director” as they moved to Montana and traveled around the U.S. and the world. Despite retiring before the move, it wasn’t long before she was working in her beloved schools again. She was just filling out her retirement papers for a second time when she left us.

Her memorial service is planned for July 16th in Bozeman. Details will be on her Facebook page.