Sunday, April 28, 2024
Sharedythe Thelma Riise
12-4-1940 – 7-22-2023
Leavenworth, WA
Sharedythe Thelma Riise, loving wife, mother, grandma, great grandma, sister, and friend; passed away on Saturday July 22, 2023, in Leavenworth, WA. due to complications from advanced stage Parkinson’s disease. She was 82 years old.
Share’, as she was widely known, was born in Seattle, WA on December 4, 1940. When she was just a toddler, Share’s mother, Vivian, married Herman Lehman. He was the only father she ever knew. Share’ loved that man so much and she was especially proud to be his daughter. Then, in the early 1990’s, Daddy, as she always called him, decided to make it official and adopted her, even though he was in his late 70’s and she was in her 50’s.
When Share’ and her siblings were young, Herman was in the U.S. Navy. The family traveled to live in Honolulu, Hawaii in the early 1950’s while Herman was serving his country during the Korean War. Shortly thereafter, after coming back to Seattle, they then moved to Garden Grove, California, where Share’ spent all four years of high school and graduated in 1959. She was actively involved with the school drill team and studied ballet throughout her school years. After graduating from High School, Shari’ moved back to the Seattle area.
In 1962, Share’ met the love of her life, a Norwegian immigrant by the name of Harald Riise. They discovered each other folk dancing at Norway Center, in Seattle. She was so head over heels in love with him that she began to study the Norwegian language, started taking ski lessons with the Boeing ski club and fully committed herself to learning everything she could about what it was to be Norwegian. In 1964, she and Harald were married and moved to the Norwegian community of Ballard in the North Seattle area. In 1965, they moved to Norway for a year, where Shari’s passion for all things Norwegian grew even more as she immersed herself in the culture and language. They made many journeys back to Norway to visit family and friends. Harald and Share’ were inseparable in their marriage and they continued to dance, enjoyed hiking and skiing, and spent many weekends at their family cabin in Skykomish.
Then came the “Disco” years. They lived in the Bothell/Woodenville area for a period of ten years after having their kids, Nils-Erik, and Kirsten. In 1980, they pulled up stakes and boogied over the Cascade Mountains to Leavenworth, WA. where they had honeymooned. During that trip they fell in love with Leavenworth and its mountainous surroundings. Share’ loved the feel of a small town and became very involved with “Amberleaf Theater” and the local choir group, “The Village Voices”. Singing was another one of her huge passions and over the years she also became very involved with the singing and performing group, the ‘Appleaires”, of Wenatchee.
Share’ also was an avid runner. She loved to run and move her body. She began running in the 1970’s and eventually built her running abilities to be able to run marathons, half marathons, and other fun runs throughout her life. She was a member of the Leavenworth Light Footer running club for many years. During the winter months, she stayed active by doing cross country and alpine skiing. She and Harald became very involved in the Leavenworth skiing community and were long time members of the Leavenworth Winter Sports Club.
And then there were the Harley years. In the mid 1990’s Share’ and Harald became avid Harley Davidson riders. They were Charter members of the Wenatchee Chapter of the Harley Owners Group, and they rode their famous 1989 Heritage Soft-Tail Classic, “Odin”, all over the Northwest and western United States. They also rode “Odin” to Sturgis, North Dakota a few times for the annual motorcycle gathering there. Those were some very memorable times for them. Traveling with Harald was always a wonderful experience for Share’.
Share’ loved the people of her community and the town she lived in with all her heart. She was always immersing herself in community events and loved working at the hospital as a receptionist and in the galleries of downtown Leavenworth. This community involvement and her love for Leavenworth, led her to being selected as “Royal Lady of the Autumn Leaves” in 2010. Her experience as Royal Lady was one of the pinnacle experiences of her life. She and Harald got to travel to all the major parades and festivals throughout Washington State to help promote their little town of Leavenworth that they enjoyed so much. They truly embraced all that Leavenworth had to offer. Share’ and Harald were always seen dancing at live music events around town by night and were often seen running, skiing, and cycling by day.
Share’ will always be remembered for her big smile, love for family, love for people, and her passion for theater, singing, dancing, and traveling. She was always singing and dancing throughout her life, which is what kept her young and vibrant. Nothing made her happier. She also loved her dogs; they were always an integral part of her life. She was always that spot of sunshine in your day whether you crossed paths with her in the grocery store or saw her on the dance floor. Her zest for life was unmatched and admired by all who knew her. She will be greatly missed.
Sharedythe Riise was preceded in death by her parents Herman and Vivian Lehman and by her husband Harald Riise. She is survived by her children Nils-Erik Riise and his wife Jana Zediker, Kirsten Kimber and her husband Jim Kimber, her sister Karla Starr, and Brother Marc Lehman. She has three grandchildren, Anona Riise Haley, Mercedes Goble (Husband Thomas Goble) and Virginia Trigg. She also has two beautiful great-grandchildren, Vienna, and Annika Goble.
A big heartfelt thank you must go out to Mountain Meadows Assisted Living, in Leavenworth, for taking such good care of Sharedythe.
Memorial Services will be held at 1:00 p.m. on September 8, 2023. Sleeping Lady Mountain Retreat in the Chapel Theater and Salmon Gallery. Arrangements made by Heritage Memorial Chapel. View Share’s website at www.HeritageMemorialChapel.com
