Former Seal Beach Mayor and a longtime member of the city council Edna-Wilson Sharp died recently at the age of 96 in the Northern California home of her daughter.
There will be a memorial at 11:30 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 2, at Redeemer Lutheran Church, 13564 St. Andrews Dr., Leisure World, Seal Beach.
Wilson-Sharp, who moved to the west coast with her first husband in the 1950s, moved into Leisure World in 1974, to care for her aging mother. She retired in 1983 and was shortly thereafter elected to the Seal Beach City Council District Two.
Wilson-Sharp was elected Mayor of Seal Beach in 1987 and 1991, which she said was one of her proudest life accomplishments. The Seal Beach City Council was highly contentious during the time she served on the dais. The city was dealing with the volatile question of what should be done with the Hellman Ranch property in the city’s Marina Hill area. Part of the land became Heron Point and the Los Cerritos Wetlands.
However, most people involved with city politics at the time remember her as a voice of reason that was willing to agree to disagree and never engaged in personal attacks or recriminations.
She was born in Seward, Nebraska on Easter Sunday, April 23, 1916, to German immigrant parents. The Nebraska farm girl graduated from high school in David City, NE in 1933. She was the only person in the small town’s 11th grade class, and went on to become Valedictorian.
She shared a Nebraska farm upbringing with two sisters, a step-sister and a step-brother. She was known for her fabulous “farm” cooking and felt fortunate that, at the age of 19, she attained a position managing the telephone exchange in Garrison, NE as her first job, during the Great Depression.
Wilson-Sharp moved to Long Beach in 1940 and attended Long Beach Business College and City College, in addition to taking courses at the University of Southern California and the New York Institute of Finance.
She was an active sorority member in Beta Sigma Phi between 1942 and 1948. She served as president of the Soroptimist club one year, and one of her most memorable moments was a trip to the Soroptomist International conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. She spent three months touring various European countries at that time.
In 1942 she became the first female licensed account executive (stockbroker) at the investment brokerage firm of E. F. Hutton, working in their Bakersfield office until 1954. During this time, she was a member of the New York Stock Exchange.
After marrying B. J. Wilson in 1953, the couple resided in several Northern California locations. The couple instilled in their daughter a love for road trips, camping and gold panning, which they all enjoyed in the Sierra Mountains northwest of Lake Tahoe.
Wilson returned to Long Beach in 1968 to supervise the Seal Beach Leisure World business office. Her teenage daughter accompanied her, growing up in their shared Belmont Shore apartment. Wilson’s public service extended far beyond the city council. She served as a member of the Orange County League of California Cities, President of the Seal Beach Redevelopment Agency, member of the Orange County Sanitation Commission, member of the Orange County Parks and Beaches Commission, and member of the West Orange County Senior Meals and Services Commission.
Meeting, and sharing these interests with, fellow Leisure World resident Jim Sharp, they married in 1992.
Wilson-Sharp also enjoyed golf, pool and gardening during these retirement years, and served as President to the Golf Club.
She served the Leisure World Golden Age Foundation, and became the first female member of Leisure World’s International Kiwanis Club, actively supporting the scholarship awards program of the Club. She also served as a Board member of the Leisure World Religious Council, Geographic Society, and was a life member of the City of Hope.
Wilson-Sharp was also active as a councilmember of the Redeemer Lutheran Church, and served as a volunteer for various organizations including YWCA and United Way.
Upon the death of her beloved husband, Jim Sharp, in 2009, She relocated from Seal Beach Leisure World to Citrus Heights, Ca.
Wilson-Sharp is remembered as a kind and generous person. Always the optimist, it was second nature to her to look on the bright side of any situation.
“Her remarks about others were always positive, and she enjoyed sharing warm memories about those with whom her path had crossed in life. Her strong belief was that it is better to teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime rather than give him a fish to feed him for a day,” said her daughter Linda Kelley.
Edna Wilson-Sharp is survived by her daughter, Linda Kelley and son-in-law Todd Kelley of Citrus Heights, Ca., daughter Esther Cummings and Becky Wyatt and son-in-law Roger Wyatt of Seal Beach and son James Sharp and daughter-in-law Linda Sharp of Prescott, AZ, five grandchildren and one great-grand child.
