Sarah A. Sheldon

06/04/2005

Sarah A. Sheldon, 41, of Oceanside, Calif., formerly of North Adams, died Saturday at her sister's home in Costa Mesa, Calif., after a six-year battle with breast cancer. Born in North Adams on Feb. 1, 1964, daughter of Richard and Sandra Shoestock Sheldon of North Adams, she graduated from Drury High School with the class of 1982. She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in sociology and minors in social work and psychology from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in 1986. She also obtained a master's degree in organizational development from the University of San Francisco in 1998. Miss Sheldon danced with the Berkshire Dance Theater of Adams from 1979 to 1984. She moved to Southern California in 1986 and was employed by both educational and corporate institutions in human resources until her diagnosis in 1999. She also performed career outplacement consulting services for various organizations, including the Walt Disney Co., and volunteered these services for several homeless and women's shelters. She enjoyed movies, music, dancing, the theater, board games, spending time with family and friends, and chocolate. She was able to take several trips to Hawaii, a cruise to Mexico, a vacation to British Columbia, and a holiday road trip through Italy and France in recent years, despite her illness. Besides her parents, she leaves her paternal grandmother, Emily Sheldon of North Adams; her maternal grandmother, Harriet Presnal of Adams; two sisters, Sharon Rosen of Costa Mesa, Calif., and Serena Sheldon Deeter of Lake Forest, Calif. FUNERAL NOTICE -- A Celebration of Life event for Sarah Sheldon will take place in the North Adams area later this summer. A dance scholarship in Sarah's memory is being established through the Berkshire Dance Theater. Memorial donations for this scholarship can be made via check and mailed to Berkshire Dance Theater, 34 Commercial St., Adams, MA 01220. Please make checks out to the Berkshire Dance Theater (or BDT) and include "Sarah Sheldon Scholarship Fund" on the memo line. Other memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society.

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