Posted by Da Butcha Da Betta on November 05, 2009 at 10:39:47:
Sharon Lord Lebsack, 1943-2009: Registered nurse, wife of radio newsman Lyle Dean
Radio personality Lyle Dean's wife traveled widely
By Rick Kogan
Tribune reporter
November 5, 2009
Growing up the daughter of an Air Force officer, Sharon Lord Lebsack lived a nomadic life that took her around the world.
As an adult married to one of the area's most visible radio personalities, she was a stable presence, devoting herself to raising children and to the community of Northbrook, her home for nearly 40 years.
Mrs. Lebsack, 66, died Wednesday, Oct. 28, in Rush University Medical Center in Chicago after a long battle with leukemia.
"Sharon was a babe, that's just the best way to put it. She was my love and my life and she made me a better person than I deserved to be," said her husband, Lyle Dean, a local radio newsman for more than 40 years at various stations, most recently on Tribune Co.-owned WGN-AM. "She made everybody a better person."
Born in Fort Wayne, Ind., the former Sharon Lord and her family lived in various places in the United States and in Japan and Morocco, where she graduated from high school.
She went to nursing school at St. Mary of the Plains in Dodge City, Kan., before receiving her bachelor's degree in nursing from Creighton University in Omaha, Neb.
It was there, while working the night shift in the emergency room of a hospital, that she met her future husband.
"I went there to get some information about a traffic accident, and she wouldn't tell me a word," Dean said. "But she did say 'yes' when I later asked her out on a date."
The couple were married less than a year later in Omaha and soon moved to Chicago. Her husband went to work for WIND radio, and she earned her master's in nursing at Dominican University in River Forest. Her career as a registered nurse included stints at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago and Rush.
While raising the couple's children, she worked part time at Mercy Medical Center in Chicago and Holy Family Medical Center in Des Plaines. She was also the office manager for Dean's independent media ventures.
She was active at Our Lady of the Brook Catholic Church in Northbrook, where she served many years as Eucharistic minister.
An accomplished gardener, avid fisherman and energetic world traveler, she accompanied her husband on boating adventures.
"She really had it all," said acclaimed local singer Catherine O'Connell, who became a close friend over the last decade. "She could discuss anything -- books, travel, health issues -- and really listened."
In addition to her husband, she is survived by a daughter, Kirsten Whipple; a son, Erik; a sister, Janet Lord; brothers Richard, Thomas and Michael Lord; and five grandchildren. Visitation is scheduled for 4 to 8 p.m. Friday in Our Lady of the Brook, 3700 Dundee Road in Northbrook. Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday in the church.