Sharon Kay Dotson, 69, of Rock Lake, passed away at Woodlawn Hospital on August 16, 2026. The oldest child of Nancy and Lester Dotson, Jr., Sharon was born January 28, 1957, in Prestonsburg, KY. The family moved to Indiana when she was still a toddler.
She was a girly girl who loved dolls and puppies and kittens and babies. When her youngest sister was born the year she was seven, family lore has it she considered Wendy her baby.
Sharon graduated from North Miami High School and earned her Associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education at Manchester University—then Manchester College. As a nursing assistant, she discovered a love for working with both children with special needs and patients in long-term care facilities. When she received her LPN degree from Ivy Tech, she continued with geriatric care until medical issues forced her into early retirement.
Sharon was a doer and a giver. She was a favorite babysitter, an eager crafter, and a fierce and protective friend. She never saw a sow’s ear that she couldn’t turn into a silk purse—or at least a polyester one; she understood about thrift.
Left to feel the emptiness of her loss but celebrate the person she was are a son, Ryan (Melissa) Dotson, Rochester; three granddaughters, Brianna (Scott) Flannery, Miranda (Patrick) Sullivan, Lexi Dotson, a grandson, Colton Dotson. She also has a great-granddaughter Cassandra Sullivan, and one on the way. Her sisters, Karen Kyler, Akron, and Wendy (Tom) Ellet, Roann, along with two aunts, also survive, as well as a loving clutch of nieces and nephews, a bumper crop of cousins, and a posse of old and dear friends.
She was preceded in death by her parents and several aunts and uncles.
A memorial service will be held at 6:00 pm, Friday, August 28, 2026 at Hartzler Funeral Home 305 West Rochester Street Akron, Indiana with Pastor J.P. Freeman officiating.
Memorial visitation will be held from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm, Friday, August 28, 2026 at Hartzler Funeral Home, Akron, Indiana.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Fulton County Animal Center.
