Author, John Sharpe, 78, a Colorado native whose family lineage included lawmen, ranchers, miners, and businessmen – with a couple of school teachers thrown in for balance – passed away on Feb. 28, 2023. From selling donkey rides and gold ore specimens on the summer streets of Cripple Creek, Colo. until he retired from commercial lending in 2007, John had been training to write fiction, whether he knew it or not. If it took a bushel full of experiences to write a novel, John had cultivated a small orchard. He’d been a teacher, a loan officer, a bartender, a fry cook, a real estate agent, an insurance salesman, a freelance writer, a photographer, and a magazine editor. He’d bucked bales, poured concrete, built fences, and pumped gas. He’d been bucked off donkeys, horses, steers, bulls, and one insulted sow. John would be the first to tell you that he wasn’t a cowboy. Even the sow agreed.

John will be missed by a variety of friends from his many adventures.

Preceded in death by his beloved wife, Cyrenne “Cy” Phinney-Sharpe; parents, Richard and Pauline (McMillan) Sharpe; and sister, Barbara Dorsey.

Celebration of Life will be held 10 a.m. Saturday, May 6, 2023, at the Elks Lodge, 375 East Bennett Ave., Cripple Creek, CO 80813. Online condolences at www.MontgomerySteward.com