Sharon Ann Winn, 62 of Oklahoma, died on Monday, July 13, 2009, after a nasty spat with lung cancer.

Ms. Winn was born on July 26, 1947, in Tulsa, Okla., though she lived in numerous places, includeing Wyoming, Texas, Illinois and Kentucky before making her way back to Oklahoma to get a Ph.D. at the University of Tulsa in 1989.

She taught at Lee College in Baytown, Texas before joining the faculty at NSU in 1992. She retired from NSU in 2009. She won numerous awards during her academic career, one of which was the Circle of Excellence Award for Service at NSU in 2004. On the side, she liked to write humorous essays and published a number of short mysteries in the early 1980's. But she loved teaching and her students really made her life fun and challenging.

Ms Winn is survived by her mother, Nina Helm Winn, of Tahlequah; her brother, James K. Winn, of Milliken, Colorado; her niece, Jamie Bolander Weitl, Mike Weitl and Bo Weitl, of Olney; her aunt, Florene Avant Winn Parker, of Wilson, Okla.; her cousins, LeAnn Winn Hodges of Ardmore, Okla., and Mary Parker Franz of Ada, Okla.; Wallie and Yerby Hairod of Eufaula, Okla., and the Don and Dianna Hart family as well as the Seth and Kayla Crow family, of Tahlequah, Okla.

Published in Olney Daily Mail (IL) - July 15, 2009