Sharon Marie McDonald
Sharon Marie McDonald, 85, passed away on October 9, 2025.
Prior to moving to Roanoke, she lived on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and was a member of VA Retired Teachers organizations (multiple state and locally based groups), Lions Club, Red Hat Society and many other charitable organizations.
On the shore she belonged to St. Peter the Apostolic Catholic Church in Onley, VA. After her move, she continued to receive communion at home monthly through the local catholic church but also attended service at Fincastle United Methodist Church with her daughter's family at times.
She was an avid reader both of written books and in later years, audio books. She loved watching mysteries on TV and listening to her radio at all times. She had a deep love of history, both of the world and her family and could tell many stories about the McDonald genealogy.
Her biggest passion was her "grand boys," as she called them. Her first question was always about how Iain and Nathaniel were doing or what they were up to. She spoiled her grandsons rotten, bragged about them relentlessly and was so proud of all they had accomplished and were working on. She loved them with a fierceness unparalleled and with a pride that filled a room.
She worked in many libraries and school systems over the years in multiple states, including Arizona, California, New York, Pennsylvania and finally Virginia. She spent the last 25 years before her retirement working for Accomac County School systems. She had many positions there - from high school and middle school reading teacher to elementary school librarian for Chincoteague Elementary School, on the island. She would always ask people everywhere if they had ever heard of "Misty of Chincoteague," the famous book about a wild island pony and about her teaching home. She loved her library and reading teaching work and the joy of books was her passion.
She was preceded in death by her grandparents, Hiram and Josephine Goodrich, and Kathryn (Kitty) McDonald; parents Robert L. and Ann McDonald; brothers and sisters; Robert M. (Bobby), Pamela (Pammie), Veronica Jo, Mary (Molly), Kevin and Michael.
Those left to cherish her memory are her daughter, Kathryn (Kate) McDonald Graff with husband Jonathan Graff and their sons Iain and Nathaniel; sisters, Valerie Cummings and Denise Winant; along with many, many nieces, nephews, grand nieces and nephews, and cousins.
A memorial service will be held at Fincastle United Methodist Church on Saturday, October 25, 2025 at 10:30 am. In lieu of flowers for the service, the family asks that those in attendance bring a new copy of their favorite book from their childhood or young adult years for donation.
Also, the family encourages donations of a favorite book from your childhood or teenage years to a young person you know or to your local library. Financial donations to your local library in her memory for their youth programs and book collections would also be appreciated. She always said that it did not matter what a child read, from comic books to cook books, from stories of adventure to nonfiction books about a topic of special interest, as long as they were reading something they loved they would learn to read. Please help to continue her legacy.
Thank you to her friends and family, nationwide, who have supported our family throughout her multiple illnesses the last few years. Special thanks from her daughter’s family to her nurses and aides through Friendship Health who came daily to help her and gave her smiles and let her tell her stories to them. Also to Calvin Montgomery, who has been coming to help care for her cat Claudius and was a young friend to her and helped her feel like she was still important to young people beyond her grandsons. Also thanks to our work families and to Fincastle United Methodist Church family for their continued support of the Graffs.
