Sharon Wahman

Age 87, died peacefully on Sunday, January 29, 2023, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Duluth. She was born to Solveig and Clair Reitz on Monday, September 4^th, 1935, in St. Paul, Minnesota, and grew up in St. Paul’s Highland Park Neighborhood. She graduated from Minnehaha Academy in 1953, and attended nurses training at the Mounds-Midway School of Nursing at Hamline University, graduating in 1956. She later received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and worked as a licensed psychologist at the Human Development Center for ten years.

She met her husband, Robert Wahman, at a party in 1950, and they married in 1957. Sharon worked as a nurse while Bob attended medical school at the University of Minnesota. They had four children, and after brief sojourns in Duluth, Rochester, and Memphis, the family returned to Duluth in 1968. Sharon was an amazing mother, supporting her four children in all their academic, musical, and athletic pursuits.

Sharon and Bob owned a cabin for on Lower Eau Claire Lake, which they shared with family and friends for more than twenty years. After retirement, she and her family traveled extensively, visiting all fifty states, most of the Canadian provinces, and six continents. They passed on their love of travel to their children, and the extended family would often travel together. In 2022, the whole family gathered in Portugal to celebrate Bob and Sharon’s 65th wedding anniversary.

Sharon was very active in the Duluth community. Sharon sang with the Duluth Symphony Chorus and volunteered with the St. Mary’s Hospital Auxiliary. She also facilitated Men as Peacemakers group sessions, and served in Chum’s food distribution program, and on the Salvation Army’s Local Advisory Board, for many years. In 2018, Sharon and Bob received the Depot Foundation’s Arts and Culture Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sharon was the life of the party, and will be remembered as a wonderful entertainer and hostess to her many cherished friends. She delighted in her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and felt that her family was her greatest legacy. She lived life well, and left the world full of gratitude.

Sharon was preceded in death by her parents, Solveig and Clair Reitz; and her sister, Valerie. Sharon is survived by her beloved husband of 65 years, Robert Wahman; children, Karen Wahmanholm, Jarrow Wahman (Elizabeth), Andrea Wahman (Lee Zimmerman) and Sally Wahman (Tim Carter); grandchildren, Claire Wahmanholm (Daniel Lupton), Kaia Wahmanholm, Erik Bushnell (Lindsey), Kier Zimmerman, Delaney Carter, Emily Carter, Veronica Wahman, and Sasha Wahman; and great-grandchildren, Frieda and Ronja Wahmanholm.

A Celebration of Sharon’s Life will be held on Saturday, February 11 from 2-4 pm in the Atrium in the Essentia Health-Duluth Clinic 1st Street Building, 420 E 1st St, Duluth. The funeral will be held for the family earlier that day. In lieu of flowers, memorials preferred to the Salvation Army or the Essentia Rooftop Garden and Pavilion.