Janet Sharbono

Glendive, Montana: Janet Sharbono, age 71, passed away Thursday, February 24, 2011 at St. Vincents Hospital in Billings, Montana. A rosary will be recited at 5:30 P.M. on Wednesday, March 2, 2011 in the Chapel of the Silvernale-Silha Funeral Home in Glendive. A Life Tribute Service will be held at 6:30 P.M. on Wednesday, March 2, 2011 in the Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Glendive with Celebrant Sandy Silha officiating. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:00 A.M. on Thursday, March 3, 2011 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church with Father Joseph Ponessa and Deacon Don Berkey officiating. Rite of Committal will be in the Dawson County Cemetery in Glendive. Silvernale-Silha Funeral Home of Glendive has been entrusted with the arrangements. Janet was born on April 15, 1939 in Glendive, the daughter of Adrian and Hazel (Henneberry) Skillestad. She attended the Sacred Heart School for the first seven grades, Union School for the eighth grade and Dawson County High School for four years graduating with the class of 1957. Janet married Richard Jonas on September 14, 1957 and to this union five daughters were born. This marriage ended in 1984. Janet later met Herb Sharbono and they were united in marriage on July 29, 1997 in Glendive. Janet loved her family and had spent her life being a wonderful wife, mother and grandmother. Janet was a director for the Glendive Senior Center for twenty-one years and a treasurer of the Sacred Heart Altar Society for several years. She is preceded in death by her parents, a niece, Lisa Skillestad and brothers-in-law, Bob Scheitlin and Frank Coberly. Janet is survived by her husband Herb of Glendive; daughters, Dona (Dave) Engle, Shelley (Greg) Kolberg, and Lynn (Gary) Ingraham all of Glendive; LaRae (Dave) Letzelter of Warrensburg, New York and Carol (Mike) Wolff of Lindsay, Montana; step-sons, Bruce (Sue) Sharbono of Laurel, Montana; Mark (Deanna) Sharbono of Aurora, Colorado; Joe (Kathy) Sharbono and Daniel Sharbono both of Glendive; a sister, Shirley (Don) Berkey of Frankfort, Illinois; a sister, Norma (Harry) Green of Lompoc, California; a brother, Stan (Sharon) Bidleman of Billings; a sister, Sally (Art) Peabody of Upton, Wyoming; a brother, Jim (Pat) Skillestad and a sister, Faye Scheitlin both of Glendive; 20 grandchildren and 8 great granchildren. Remembrances and condolences may be shared with the family at: www.silvernale-silhafuneralhome.com Eulogy: “The best portion of a good person’s life is their little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.”(William Wordsworth) “Acts of kindness and love”. Doesn’t that just seem to sum up Janet Sharbono? Maybe it was a food that she made especially for you. Maybe you needed help with the house or kids and she was just there and did it. Maybe it was an ear to listen, a phone call, or a prayer. Some ‘acts of kindness and love’ that Janet did stand out in our mind; most were just done in a quiet, thoughtful way. They were just Janet. Besides being caring and thoughtful, Janet was an optimist, and was always finding the good in everyone and everything. She often told her daughters, “look at their good points, not the bad.” Janet had a calming presence. Three of her five daughters are bleeders, and whenever they would wake up with a pillow soaked in blood from a nose bleed, Janet was there, holding their head, soothing them, giving them special vitamins, helping to make the bleeding stop. And when any of the kids or grandkids were sick, Janet would tickle their ear to make them feel better. Janet was a hugger. She was a listener. Her grown daughters brought many of their life challenges to their mother and used her for a sounding board. Janet had her finger on the pulse of the family. Janet had a great sense of humor and was fun to be around and share experiences with. Daughters LaRae and Lynn remember going to the neighbors to play cards and the whole family would ride in the front seat of the pick-up, five girls and their parents, with Lynn standing between the driver’s door and her dad who was driving. Dona tells about getting her driving permit and wanting to drag main. But with a permit you still needed an adult with you when driving, so Dona asked her mother to ride in the back of the station wagon and lay down so no one could see her. Janet obliged. Janet even encouraged Chinese fire drills at the stop signs. Granddaughter Darcy enjoyed riding with her grandmother. When they drove at night, Janet would tell her grandkids to “turn your eyes on bright” to help her spot deer. When Janet was going to go fast, she would say to the grandkids, “Hang on to your girdle, Myrtle!” When Janet’s grandchildren would reach the age of 7 or 8, she would take them to New York to visit LaRae and her family. Dani remembers traveling with her cousin Stevie and Grandma. Dani and Stevi were a bit nervous flying for the first time. Grandma must have sensed this because when they got sat down and belted in on the airplane, Janet told them that if for some reason they needed to get out of the plane, they should use her underwear for parachutes. Janet’s daughters and her grandchildren all recall the wonderful forts in the living room they were allowed to build from blankets and furniture to play in and sleep in. Janet even slept in a few herself. Janet was just fun to be around. Friends of her daughters loved going to Janet’s home. She was always welcoming and easy going. One tradition for Janet was to serve caramel rolls and juice for breakfast on the last day of school of her daughters and her grandchildren’s senior year to them and all their classmates. Janet was a cryer. She cried when she was sad, she cried when she was mad, she cried when she was happy. Last fall, her five daughters and all the grandchildren each selected a special piece or two of fabric and they put together a quilt for Janet as a Christmas gift. The quilt was made with a great deal of excitement, laughter and love, and they all talked about how Janet would cry when she opened her gift. They were right. The tears flowed immediately. That quilt is the one you see displayed here tonite. Janet loved sunflowers and she collected chickens, much to Herb’s dismay. Two of her chickens have been placed in her casket by her daughters. She wore red lipstick. She loved to talk on the phone, read, and embroider white dish towels. Playing cards was a favorite activity, and she taught the grandkids many games of solitaire. Whist was her game, and she and Pat always played partners against Herb and Jim, beating them regularly. Janet rarely missed watching any of her grandchildren’s sports activities. She was their biggest and loudest cheerleader. Every Christmas Janet gave each of her grandchildren a Christmas ornament for their trees. Janet worked at the Senior Citizens Center for twenty-one years, first as an assistant director and then as the director. She loved her job and she loved the people. Janet’s favorite foods included bologna, mustard, and peanut butter sandwiches, radish sandwiches with a little butter on them, lefse, milk toast, and ice cream with chocolate and peanut butter on it. She hated peas. Hot tea was her favorite drink. She also collected tea strainers. Janet had a life long fear of horses. She was a great storyteller. She enjoyed her flower beds, especially after each of her grandchildren made a special stone for them. Janet had a love affair for her family. Her own mother died when she was eleven. When her father remarried, a new brother and sister joined the mix. Did you know that Janet was a twin? She and her step –brother, Stan, were the same age, their birthdays only days apart. They would tell people that they were twins; their mom had just had a long labor. For Janet there was never any step-siblings, step-children, or step grandchildren. Everyone was just family and she treated them all alike. This never changed. Janet began dating Herb Sharbono when they were both involved in Beginning Experiences. They eloped and were married here in Glendive in the Catholic Church. When Janet called her daughters, she told them that finally they would have the brothers they had always wanted. As for Herb’s sons, she assured son Joe that she wasn’t trying to replace their mother. And she meant that. But Janet’s nature was to treat Herb’s sons and their families as her own. Grandson Brad Sharbono’s first experience with his new grandmother was to help Janet move from her apartment to Herb’s, and Brad never knew anyone could own so many chickens and books. Janet had many ways of expressing her love. One was with food. Janet was an excellent baker and maker of homemade goodies, including, but not limited to, rebel bars, jellies, syrups, cookies, chicken noodle soup, turkey tetrazini, award winning bread, and caramel rolls. For every family member’s birthday, Janet would make them whatever food they wanted. Gary Ingraham and Joe Sharbono had birthdays on the same day and would try to outdo each other with their dessert choices. At Christmas, family members would receive a pound of caramels, “do you want nuts, no nuts, or half nuts.” Also cookies and lefse, some with butter and sugar, some with cinnamon…you get the idea. Whatever your taste, Janet made what you wanted. But it wasn’t just at traditional occasions. Grandma would send cookies and bars for Dani’s students on the first day of school. She would send food to Darcy in college with instructions for preparation. She would bake for her church and for Herb’s church. Janet would carry snacks in her pockets for her grandchildren to eat at the Saturday afternoon Mass they would all attend. Another expression of her love was the care packages she would send. Grandson Kyle in New York, called the UPS driver the P.S. man and when the P.S. man came, Kyle would get so excited about getting another care package from Grandma. Daughter Shelley lived for a time in Nevada and things were tough. Janet would send huge packages with needed things, gifts and food. Shelley claimed it was like Christmas 5 or 6 times a year, thanks to her mother. Janet was great for seeing a need and taking care of it. During calving, she might run out to daughter Carol’s and clean house while Carol was out in the fields, leaving a note from the “fairy godmother”. When Stan would come hunting, Janet would take care of and feed him and all who came with him. Daughter Lynn’s water at her home isn’t good for doing laundry, so Janet would launder Lynn’s nicer clothes for her. An important activity for Janet was Thursday nights with her sister Faye. They would attend Weight Watchers, and then get a bite to eat at Subway or CC’s Café when Shelley was working. And the phone calls, everyone will miss the cheery hellos, and many phone conservations that Janet loved to share. There was always a call for birthdays and at Christmas. Dona will miss the recipe exchanges, even though her food just didn’t taste the same as grandmas. Lynn will miss dropping the Wednesday Ranger Review at her mothers and the visits they would have. LaRae will miss the special rides and conversations from the airports when she would fly in from New York and had Janet and Herb to herself. One of the daughters commented that poor Herb probably didn’t realize when he married Janet that five fifths of estrogen came with her, Dona, Shelley, Lynn, LaRae, and Carol. And each individual had a unique flavor that they brought to the table. Janet had a big job just helping Herb not be overwhelmed by all the new women in his life. One of Janet’s most important gestures of love started after Janet married Herb. Janet didn’t send Christmas cards, but instead would write a Valentine love letter to family members in her beautiful handwriting. Janet said she did this because she had found someone to love her, Herb. These letters have become a wonderful gift and keepsake from Janet, treasured by those who received them. Where did Janet find all this love she spread around? Her faith was very important to Janet all her life. She was an advocate of and caller for many prayer chains. Janet had no prejudices. To her, we are all God’s children. If you approached her because you didn’t like someone, her response would be, “Have you prayed for them?” If there was conflict with others in your life she would advise, “Talk to the Throne, not the phone.” She had a heart of gold and she loved unconditionally. Janet was very humble; it was never about her. She was the glue that held the family together. She hoped that her faith and the love it brought would be what was remembered about her. She was never afraid of dying, she knew where it would take her. Granddaughter Dani has a final story to share with you. Dani was at the hospital in Billings last week to say good-bye to her grandmother. She was a bit angry because there were still so many things she wanted to share with her grandmother and learn from her. But in her good-bye, Dani said all the things she wanted her grandmother to know. Dani ended by saying to Janet, “you gotta come visit and let me know you’re okay.” Dani returned home. Wednesday night Dani dreamed of her grandmother. Janet was smiling, talking, and moving her legs, no longer paralyzed. Then the alarm went off. A few minutes later Dani received the call that Janet had died. That dream was another gift from her grandmother, peace of mind. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Janet Sharbono

April 15, 1939 - March 3, 2011

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Janet Sharbono

April 15, 1939 - March 3, 2011

What We Do

Flowers & Gifts

Plan Ahead

About Us

Resources

Obituaries

Grief & Healing

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