Quotes taken from memorial service, 12/4/22
Sharon passed on November 23, 2022 after a fall outside her home. and worked as General Manager at the WAUS classical radio station for nearly 30 years.
I first met Sharon Dudgeon as a member of the Andrews Wind Symphony last year, where I played flute and she played saxophone. Later on in the term, when I applied as a student announcer to the local classical radio station, WAUS, I met her as the General Manager of the station. What started as a fun on campus job turned into a more serious passion for radio under Sharon’s teaching, with weekly staff meetings and separate appointments for individual coaching for talking on the radio. She would give me feedback on projecting my voice, improvising lines during announcing, and developing a connection with the listeners as a radio announcer. Sharon always told me to treat being on air like talking to a close friend—warm, friendly, and conversational. This helped me become more comfortable in the studio and I started to feel like a more professional announcer with her help. Her advice carried over into many areas of my life and with her help, I learned to become more articulate and confident in my speech. During the time I spent under her mentorship, I also learned how deeply involved she was with the community—cooking classes, a knitting club, counseling, and everything and anything to do with music, including running our radio station. She was truly one of the most interesting and wonderfully funny people that I have ever met, and I’m so grateful for everything that she taught me. I’ll always remember the conversations we had and how fun it was to be on air with her during radio fundraising events because she brought such a special energy to the station. We were all lucky to be able to listen to her announcing and to be able to work under her, and I hope that together we can celebrate the life and legacy that she left for us.
"She always used the gifts that He gave her to advance His kingdom, and His grace will see her safely home. I'm sure one of my aunt's love languages was giving, and she gave to me a love of classical music. She showed me so much love, she gave so much love." - Bill Dudgeon, Jr.
"Her generosity, her frankness, her ability to take life as it came to her, and her skills at community building are traits I will always remember about Sharon." - Asta LaBianca
"She was kind, she was intelligent, she was witty… She was a Red Sox fan and I was a Yankee fan, and she told me she would have never hired me if she knew I was a Yankee. My office was right next to hers, and we always spent hours talking. I never really saw her as my boss, she was always my friend, almost like a sister. I'll miss her dearly." - Teddy Weithers
"She loved music and strove for excellence, even though she knew it would be impossible. Over the years, Sharon mentored around 250 students at Andrews. I think it's emblematic of her investment in the future…many students came through and worked at the radio station here, and not everyone ended up working in radio but some did. 28 years of her career was spent at the radio station, and we're going to try and continue that legacy." - Jeff Smith
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.