Member Profile: Sharon Siffert

If you’ve been greeted on Sunday morning, asked to decorate a Harvest window, or received a welcome bag as a newcomer, then you know Sharon Siffert! She has been a part of Washington Avenue Christian Church since the congregation was on Second St. She was brought to church by her parents, Andrew and Helen Dawley Smith, and was baptized in the Second Street church on April 9, 1950, by the Rev. Dr. Henry Shaw.

Sharon’s family lived on Gulf Road near to where Sharon has lived for the last several years. Her dad was always busy maintaining his two businesses: growing produce, which he sold at the City Market in Cleveland, and operating a garage, which he owned in partnership with the father of WACC member Mary Lou Hancock Petersen.

Sharon was a member of WACC’s Junior Choir and Chi Rho and CYF Youth groups. She fondly remembers attending Sunday School taught by Dr. Robert Berkebile, who would occasionally cook breakfast in Elywood Park for his class. She also recalls being mentored by Becky Papenbrock and learning to cook from Shirley Shubert, both much-loved WACC saints. Sharon attended Elyria schools, and went to 4th grade in the building at the corner of Gulf and Burns, her father and grandfather built. In her teen years, she joined the Rainbow Girls, going on to the Eastern Star as an adult.

Sharon and Bruce Siffert were married on October 1, 1962 by the Rev. Maurice Fogle. While Bruce served in the U.S. Army in 1963 at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Sharon worked in a doctor’s office there and taught Sunday School at a local church. She loves animals, especially dogs and cats. Her son Jack and daughter-in-law Debbie have two daughters, Emily and Lauren, both college graduates whose activities Sharon has enjoyed following.

With encouragement from Dr. Berkebile, Sharon studied radiology and enjoyed a 30-year career at Elyria Memorial Hospital.

Her involvement in WACC has been long and faithful, serving on the Worship Committee, Church Life & Growth Committee, and Diaconate for many years. In addition, Sharon’s a long-time member of WACC’s Whitechapel Ringers. She has attended several Regional and General Assemblies and remembers the one for which the Rev. Dr. Janet Long served as moderator.

Say hello and thank you to Sharon for her many years of loving service to this congregation.