South Whidbey community volunteer and peace advocate Sharon Roth Krogseng died peacefully at home on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2004, of cancer.

For nearly 25 years, her activities enriched the lives of many Whidbey Islanders, from South Whidbey recipients of homes constructed by Habitat for Humanity to Oak Harbor women adjusting to divorce; her non-judgmental manner consistently drew friends and neighbors to her for help and resources.

“She was always there for anyone who could benefit from kindness and generosity, whether she knew you or not,” said friend Carol Lambias.

A memorial service and potluck will be held at the family home, 7236 E. Heggenes Road, Clinton, at noon Saturday, Sept. 4.

Sharon was born Dec. 3, 1942, in Passaic, N.J., the third of four children of Charles Frederick Roth, Sr. and Dorothy Irene Kievit. She grew up in Clifton, N.J., with many cousins in an extended family that spent summers together at a family bungalow in Shark River Hills near the New Jersey shore.

She received a B.A. from Rutgers University in psychology, and did post-graduate work in community organization at the Crozier Institute in Pennsylvania.

In her youth, during the Vietnam War, Sharon volunteered with a Quaker peace organization in Montreal, Canada, and began a lifelong commitment to the cause of peace. She was a core member of the Whidbey Nuclear Free group active on South Whidbey in the 1980s and most recently participated regularly in peace vigils against the war in Iraq, with Whidbey Peace and Reconciliation Network and with Billionaires for Bush, a political parody group.

In 1968 she and a friend drove cross-country from the East Coast via Florida in an MG convertible with two dogs and ended up in Alaska. During the trip they had several encounters with bears and ended up spending a couple of sleepless nights sharing the tiny car with the dogs.

Sharon met her husband, Pete Krogseng, in Anchorage, Alaska; they lived there for six years, then moved to Powell River where their daughter, Kyla Adrienne Roth Krogseng, was born in 1976. In 1980 they settled on South Whidbey where they had purchased property in 1974.

Her working career included positions with the New Jersey Bureau of Children’s Services, the Alaska Health Sciences Library, the Department of Social and Health Services of the state of Washington, Fraser Valley College in Chilliwack, B.C., South Whidbey Children’s Center, South Whidbey School District, Island Discovery School in Coupeville and Youthnet of Mount Vernon. In these jobs, Sharon used her skills in connecting with people to aid unwed teen parents, foster children and foster parents, injured workers, abused and neglected people, women with post-partum depression, behaviorally challenged children and underserved communities.

Sharon loved to feed people, kept her house open for those in need and held a well-attended annual cider pressing party to share the bounty of her large orchard with others.

Volunteer activities were an extension of Sharon’s generous and caring nature. During the past 25 years she helped build many community organizations. She volunteered with Hearts and Hammers since the organization’s early beginnings and was an affiliate and chapter board member for Habitat for Humanity, where she also served as treasurer and chaired the Family Selection Committee.

She served with the Red Cross as a disaster relief volunteer in the late 1990s and in 2000 was a local neighborhood coordinator.

For many years, Sharon participated in a friendship quilting group that gathered twice yearly to make quilts to be sent overseas to recipients in war-torn countries. From 1996 to 2000, she was a small group facilitator in an Oak Harbor divorce recovery group.

A long-time volunteer at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, Sharon was also a member of South Whidbey Garden Club, a co-founder of the Women’s Bridge Club Manifestation Group, attended a women’s circle, seasonal pagan gatherings and attended Unity of Whidbey.

Survivors include daughter Kyla Krogseng of the family home and Santa Cruz, Calif; former spouse and friend, Pete Krogseng of Coupeville; brothers Charles Frederick Roth, Jr. of Sun City, Fla., and Alan Adrian Roth of Kearney, N.J.; sister Joyce Heffelfinger of Nutley, N. J.; beloved aunt and second mother Kathryn Grzesiak of Shark River Hills, N.J.; aunt Annamay Mosley of San Antonio; cousin Carol Vanderschaaf of Atlanta, Ga.; in-laws Karen and Steve Packer of Newberg Ore., and Charles and Loc Packer of Clinton; and her beloved golden lab, Lizzie.

Memorials may be made to South Whidbey Habitat for Humanity, Box 511, Freeland, WA 98249.