THE THREE SHARONS — Sharon Mark Cohen

Sharon was a popular name in 1953. I started school in 1958 with a class that included two other students named Sharon.

When my family moved from an apartment in a four-family house in Roselle, New Jersey, to a one-family home in nearby Elizabeth, on January 1, 1965, my two classmates named, Sharon, Sharon Vaughan, and Sharon Jackson, were left behind. I’ve thought about the two other Sharons throughout the years, wondering about my former classmates and neighborhood friends.

It’s funny, but having the same name, I suppose, helped me to remember the other Sharons because I cannot recall a dozen or more others from our class. Whenever I heard the teacher say “Sharon…,” I remember looking over as one of the two others with my given name were called on by an added initial. I waited, but when the M. didn’t come, I listened for the J. or the V. that readily followed the name Sharon.

Along came Facebook groups, which was the way that, in due time, I found my former classmates, Sharon V. and Sharon J. After close to 60 years, on May 23, ‘23, I made my final connection with friendly schoolmates who time and again, I’ve thought about reconnecting with throughout the years. Being a genealogist, I’m always looking for family, and I suppose you can say that these schoolmates of my childhood were like family.

The thought came to me to post some of my old grade school report cards on the Facebook Group filled with members of my grammar school and ask, “Were you in my class?” There weren’t as many responses as I thought may appear, but the ones from the two other students named Sharon especially thrilled me. I got a kick out of one of the comments, “Wow you still have your report cards.”

The Lincoln School (currently the Dr. Charles C. Polk School) neighborhood was our cocoon; learning how others have spread their wings since childhood is beautiful. I have to hand it to social media on this one. Happy to have the opportunity to reconnect with the women who shared that day in infamy with me in fifth grade when we learned of the assassination of President Kennedy.

My family has a long history in Roselle. My mother, several of her ten siblings, plus her four children attended Lincoln School, some as far back as when my uncle Jack noted, “it was a little red schoolhouse.”

Dr. Polk, honored with his name to live on at our childhood school, was my mother’s family doctor when she was growing up. She related her cherished memories of him as a good doctor who listened to his patients. She would admiringly say, “You could really talk to him.”

I’m happy for the opportunity to “talk” to my former classmates reunited on the Roselle Facebook Group, Lincoln Elementary School, Roselle, New Jersey, and share such memories. It’s great that this day came to pass.

Added after posting - two photos below, 4th and 6th grade - my brother Al brought them over after I posted this week’s blog.