Sharon Ann Skain, SNDdeN

January 30, 1937 - February 18, 2024

Belmont, California

We remember with gratitude the life of Sister Sharon Ann Skain, SNDdeN who was a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur for 68 years. She died peacefully at the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur Province Center Residence in Belmont, California, where she lived for the past two years.

Sister Sharon entered the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1956 after graduating from Notre Dame High School, San Francisco. A beloved elementary and high school teacher for more than 30 years, she ministered in schools in Los Angeles, Millbrae, Santa Barbara, San Carlos, San Jose, Seattle, and Honolulu. Most significant for her was her return to teach at her alma mater, Notre Dame High School in San Francisco, in a multi-cultural setting from which she learned a great deal. Though she never left the United States, she served in many cultures.

One of the greatest joys of Sister Sharon’s life was her 22 years as Director of RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) at St. Christopher Parish in San Jose, California. In her own words, “I encouraged parishioners to share their experience of growing up as post-Vatican II Catholics. RCIA is a call to follow Jesus and I see people’s growth, their conversion, the same thing that happened to me over the years.” Sister Sharon also treasured her time on the staff at the Notre Dame House of Prayer in Carmel, California.

During her Diamond Jubilee in 2015, Sister Sharon expressed appreciation for being able to celebrate 60 years as Sister of Notre Dame de Namur. She said, “Thank you for prayer, for surprises, for hope even if the world is always in a mess, for hope about religious life, for whatever it is God has in mind.”

Despite serious health problems in recent years, she remained positive. Living up to her religious name, Fidelis, meaning faithful, true, and dependable, she exhibited these values throughout her life with its many joys and challenges. She truly was a gifted woman with a heart as wide as the world.

Sister Sharon was preceded in death by her parents, Richard and Hanna Skain. She is lovingly remembered by her sister, Sheila Reed, her brother and sister-in-law, Patrick and Suzie Skain, her nephews, Robert, Richard, and Russell, and her cousins, the Skains of Jefferson City, Missouri, the Taylors and McNaughtons of San Francisco, the Martins of Lafayette and Danville, friends, former students and parishioners, and Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.

A Funeral Mass will be celebrated for Sister Sharon’s life at 11:00 am on Friday, April 12, 2024, in the Chapel at the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur Province Center, at 1520 Ralston Avenue, in Belmont, California. The burial will be held at 2:30 p.m. on the same day at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California. Contributions in Sister Sharon’s memory may be made to Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, 1520 Ralston Avenue, Belmont, CA 94002 or online at snddeneastwest.org. Further information about Sister Sharon’s life can be found at https://snddeneastwest.org/sisters/sharon-skain/.