JUDITH ANN BRUNBERG SHARP
Judith Ann Brunberg Sharp passed away at Blessing Hospital in Quincy, Illinois on Sunday, January 26, 2025. Judy was born in Pittsfield, Illinois on May 17, 1948, the daughter of Helen Elaine Green Brunberg, originally of Downing, Missouri and David Wendell Brunberg, originally of Manhattan, Kansas. She had one older sister, Lois Elaine Brunberg Bradford.
Judy moved with her family from Pittsfield to Lancaster, California in 1955. Her father worked in education, so the family traveled to the Midwest each summer to spend time with her father’s family near Chicago, and with her mother’s brother, Charles Barb Green, and their parents, Maude and Ellet Green, on the family farm South of Downing. Judy was in love with NE Missouri and was determined to move there someday.
Judy chose to her college education at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, California because the area and the large agricultural school reminded her of NEMO. She followed her interest in her grandmother’s cooking and canning by getting a BS degree in Food Science, followed by a 9-year career in management at Safeway Stores preserve plant in the SF bay area, and with United Brands in Modesto, California as a supervising flavor technologist.
Judy met James William Sharp in college and they married on July 2, 1972, then later divorced in 1984. Judy changed careers and followed her love of art by working in Graphic Arts in Silicon Valley, working for Apple, PMI, and others. After 11 years in graphics, and having suffered two corporate downsizings, Judy moved “home” to NEMO in 1993, to be close to her remaining relatives. She continued to work in Graphics at Walsworth Publishing in Brookfield, Missouri; at KCOM/ATSU in Kirksville, Missouri; and at the book publishing department of Truman State University in Kirksville. She considered it her ‘favorite job’ – part of a four-person publishing team that edited, designed, advertised and sold many books and e-books series, training student interns in the process.
Divorced since 1984, Jim tracked Judy down in 2010 and reconnected by phone. After three years and several commutes between Memphis and Reno, Nevada, they decided Jim would join Judy in Memphis. They had been successful apart for 30 years, but joyfully reconnected as lifetime loves, marrying for the second time on January 5, 2015. Close friends Lisa and Dale Tague, along with Tim and Krista Baker, stood up for them, while friends Carroll Davenport and Mike Ashcraft performed their wedding. A later reception was held for friends and family.
Judy had a lifelong passion with art, first creating quilts with her grandmother, then painting and becoming a talented and respected photographer. She created bronze sculptures, including one which was made from her grandmother’s quilt. She began making digital abstract manipulations on the computer of her own flower photographs, calling herself Abstract Art by Sharp: Botanically Yours-Flowers with a Twist, selling mainly through Gallery 104 in Kirksville.
Since college Judy had a passion for cats and dogs, nearly always having two or more at a time.
She was active in the Downing Depot Museum, in Downing, Missouri, where she coordinated major reorganization of the collections, and the rebuilding of the Veterans Room display area, finally earning respect as a curator. Jim also became interested in the Museum and assisted in the projects and in the fundraising. With Jim being a very social and outgoing person, they expanded their circles of friends in Scotland and Schuyler counties, Kirksville, Missouri and Quincy, Illinois.
Judy was preceded in death by her parents, David and Helen; her grandparents, Ellet I. and Maude Bard Green of Downing, Missouri and Andrew and Esther Bilander Brunberg of Zion, Illinois; a special uncle, Charles Barb Green and wife Jean Lancaster Green; close cousins, Fred “Brownie” Veach and wife Norma Barb Veach of Kirksville, Missouri; and dear friend, Lisa Tague of Gorin, Missouri.
She leaves behind her devoted husband, Jim of twelve, then ten years’ marriage, of Memphis, Missouri; her dear friend, Krista Baker Tinney of Kirksville, Missouri; her sister, Lois; her niece, Laurel Bradford Browning (Fred) of Georgia; her niece, Wendy Bradford Laudone (David) of Tennessee; beloved cousins, Jo Ann Dorsher (Paul) of Minnesota, and Mary Brusberg of Minnesota; cousin, Jim Hidinger (Jill) of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; cousin Peggy Achepol Brown of St. Charles, Missouri; and many friends in CA, FL, IA, IL, MN, MO, OR and WA. She loved and was loved by so many people.
Judy suffered from cancer for many years with Jim by her side the whole way as loving caretaker. She was in recovery for many years, living each day fully and one at a time. Judy was accorded a modest burial, with a self-designed marker at the Green family’s plot in Downing Cemetery in Downing, Missouri.
A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.
An expression of sympathy in memory of Judith Sharp may be left to the Downing Depot Museum, Adair County Humane Society or the Missouri Department of Corrections Puppies for Parole. A memorial may be left at or mailed to the Memphis Funeral Home, 378 S. Market Street, Memphis, Missouri 63555.
