Sharon Kay DEFOREST

6 MAR 1939 - 11 FEB 2016

• BIRTH: 6 MAR 1939, Elkhart County, Indiana
• DEATH: 11 FEB 2016, Niles, Berrien County, MI

INDEX

[N14117] Sharon Kay Holmes
March 6, 1939 - Feb. 11, 2016
BERRIEN SPRINGS - Sharon Kay “Shari” Holmes, age 76 years of Berrien Springs, Michigan, died at 8:48 a.m. on Thursday, February 11, 2016, at Lakeland Hospital - Niles, Michigan, following an illness. She was born on March 6, 1939, in Elkhart, Indiana, to Gerald Oliver and Thelma Lurene (Knoblock) DeForest. She was graduated from Niles High School, and from the Twin City Beauty College. She has lived in the same home on Scherr Road for fifty years and operated Shari's Hair Styling from that home.Shari was formerly active in area bowling leagues at the former A.A. Timber-Lanes Bowling Alley as a bowler, team sponsor, and league secretary. She enjoyed hunting and fishing, usually at the trailer at Big Smith Lake. Her greatest interest was her family, caring for her children and grandchildren, and always caring first for her husband.On August 13, 1958, in Roseland, Indiana, she married Alonzo James “Lon” Holmes, with whom she celebrated the fifty-fourth anniversary of their wedding prior to his death on May 4, 2013. They were also preceded in death by a son, Sergeant Michael James Holmes, United States Army, who was killed in action in Tay Ninh, South Viet Nam, on June 15, 1967. Surviving family includes their children, James (& Angela) Holmes of Niles, Gary (& Victoria) Holmes of Berrien Springs, Joyce Kerschner and Nancy (& Patrick) Hemminger, both of South Bend; grandchildren, Gary Michael Holmes, Lisa Tyler Bailey, Chelssy Elizabeth Bennett, Zachary James Holmes, Katherine Joy Holmes, Michael Hemminger, Christine Hemminger, Kathy Nitz, Stephen Hemminger, Cyndee Crawford, Wendee Kerschner, Julie Layman, and Andrew Kerschner; fifteen great-grandchildren, seven great-great-grandchildren; and Shari's sister, Jacqueline “Jackie” (& Robert) Hess; and twin brothers, Richard L. “Dick” (& Melva) DeForest and Thomas O. (& Donna) DeForest, all of Niles; and many nieces and nephews. The funeral service for Shari Holmes will be at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, February 15, 2016, at the Halbritter Funeral Home in Niles, with Elder Maurice Burton, Co-pastor of Refreshing Fountains Outreach Ministry Church of God in Christ, officiating. Committal will be private on Tuesday at the Silverbrook Cemetery in Niles.The family will receive relatives and friends on Monday at the funeral home beginning at 5:00 p.m. Contributions in memory of Sharon may be made to the Patient Activity Fund at West Woods of Niles.Published in South Bend Tribune on Feb. 12, 2016