Sharon Valentine

1944 - December 1st, 2011

Sharon Elaine Valentine, widow of the late legendary Johnny Valentine, passed away in Fort Worth, Texas on December 1, 2011 at age 67. She had battled multiple serious health issues for the past number of years.

Johnny met Sharon for the first time in 1971, then reconnected with her in 1983, eight years after a near-fatal airplane crash in 1975 ended his wrestling career. They were married in a small church in Bowie, Texas, fittingly on Valentine’s Day 1984. Johnny’s health was never good after the devastating crash, and Sharon went beyond the call of wifely duty in taking exceptional care of him. He suffered a fall from their front porch in August 2000 that left him hospitalized until his death from heart failure on April 24, 2001, at 72 years of age.

Sharon and Johnny were inseparable in their 17 years of marriage, devoted to each other in battling the many medical and related financial problems that beset them. But they refused to give up, and that is their legacy to their surviving family: son Greg Valentine, daughter Tracy Sparks Hwidi, three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Sharon’s final wrestling-related public appearance was on April 17, 2010 in Fort Worth, when she accepted a Hall of Fame induction on Johnny’s behalf from the IHWE promotion. At the presentation, Sharon said that Johnny would have valued the honor above all others given his high regard for Texas wrestling talent.

Thanks to the Cauliflower Alley Club for the above.