Sharon Gruner

Sharon Roberta Gruner died November 29, 2018, at Hope West Hospice in Grand Junction, Colorado.  Cancer killed her.

Sharon was born May 29, 1947, in Hibbing, Minnesota.  Her parents were Robert and Angie Martinsen.  They preceded her in death.  She graduated at the Eagle Mountain High School at Eagle Mountain, California in 1964.  She then attended and graduated from college.  She taught a couple of years in Pomona, California.  But, she wanted to wander and so she moved to Lihue Kauai, Hawaii.  In Lihue in the early 1970’s she founded and operated a child daycare center that she fondly named, Octopus Garden.  It was there and at the nearby, Lihue Lutheran Church that she met her future husband, David Gruner.  It was not love at first sight, however, the marriage that began May 31, 1975, blossomed into a loving relationship that lasted for 43 wonderful years.  After marriage, the couple moved to Aurora, Colorado, where their daughter, Hannah Rose and son Andrew were born.  Tragically, Hannah Rose died in infancy.

In 1982, the family moved to Grand Junction, Colorado where their daughter Julia was born later that year.  Sharon taught third and fourth graders for twenty years at their church, Messiah Lutheran Church and School.

Sharon is survived by her husband, David, her sisters, Marilyn Zeleski, Phoenix, Arizona, and Joanie Boyle, Lincoln City, Oregon.  Also, her son Andrew Gruner, Tukwila, Washington, her daughter, Julia Goebel, Lakewood, Colorado, and granddaughters Ella and Carissa Gruner, Tukwila, Washington.  After the holidays a memorial service will be held.  Details to be announced