Sharon Rochelle Ablon, neé Matthews, went home to be with her LORD and savior on November 5, 2019 at the age of 57. During her years on this earth, she made the most of her life and will best be remembered as a loving mother, caring teacher, and strong-hearted servant of Christ.
Born on May 8, 1962 in Oklahoma City, Okla., Rochelle would spend her early years living with her parents, Sharon Kay “Corky” Matthews and Lester Gene “Hook” Matthews, and her younger sister, Kelly Gyene Matthews, later Kelly Cade upon marriage. Rochelle grew up in Texas and Oklahoma, traveling with her family each time her father took a new job leading hospitals in rural areas with the most need. Rochelle would eventually graduate from Claremore High School in Claremore, Okla., and began her education at Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri. She would finish her education in 1991 at the University of North Texas in Denton, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Education and beginning her career as a teacher in the Lewisville-Flower Mound area.
She would later marry, and welcome three children into her life, and eventually return to Oklahoma for a few years with her young children before finding a job at Aikin Elementary School in Paris, making this town her home since 1999. She would eventually leave teaching to better take care of her middle child, a special needs handicapable adult. Her impact in her 24 years of teaching is felt most on the students she helped raise to become better citizens in this world and with the friends she worked with in Paris ISD who saw her commitment to education.
She would live to see her eldest child become a journalist and spread his wings, her middle child would remain with her as a handicapable adult, and her youngest would start her own career as a hairstylist before marrying and welcoming the first of Rochelle’s grandchildren into this world.
It is no secret that Rochelle battled lung cancer in her final days. But what she would want the world to know is that she was not alone in this fight, as her children rallied support around her, and she had hundreds of loved ones constantly keeping her in prayer. Though her fight was ultimately lost, Rochelle left this world knowing that the war for her soul was already won, when she gave her life to Christ at a young age during a Vacation Bible School.
Raised in the Baptist denomination, she joins her parents in Heaven along with a baby brother, Anthony. She also joins her maternal grandparents JT. and Josephine Bloodworth, step-grandfather Orville Box, paternal grandparents L.D. and Geneva Matthews, uncle Garland Bloodworth, aunt Helen Baldwin, and baby grand-niece Piper Joy Hudson, along with their extended family members.
Carrying on her legacy on earth include:
- Her eldest child, Matthew Lawrence Ablon, of Greenville, South Carolina
- Her middle child, Madeline Josephine Ablon, of Paris
- Her youngest child, Anna Grace Dickey, and husband Eric, of Paris
- Her grandson, Jeremiah Andrew Dickey, of Paris
- Her sister, Kelly Matthews Cade, and husband Jeff, of Paris
- Her niece Katie Cade Hunter, and husband Cody, of Abilene, along with their children Hudson and Haidyn
- Her nephew, Michael Cooper Cade, of Paris
- Her niece, Caroline Josie Cade, of Dallas
- Her aunt, Nancy Bloodworth, of Little Rock, Arkansas
- Her cousin, Brandi Bloodworth Connolly, and husband Brian, of Park City, Utah, along with their daughters Keira, Porter, and Garland
- Her mother-in-law, Cheryl Ablon, of Lewisville, Texas
- A host of friends who grew to be inseparable from family, including friends she met for coffee on Tuesdays and lunch on Fridays
Funeral services will be conducted at 11:30 AM Saturday, November 9, 2019 in the chapel of Fry-Gibbs Funeral Home with Dr. Donnie Edwards and Dr. Tommy Turner officiating. Family will receive friends one hour prior to service in the chapel. She will be laid to rest alongside her parents in Evergreen Cemetery in Paris
