Sharon Thorpe never seemed to be off-duty from her job as teacher and counselor to at-risk students in Boulder.
“She loved the students a lot, but she never took any lip from them or allowed them to lie,” said her brother, Kevin Thorpe, of Redwood City, Calif.
“She gave her life to the kids,” said her mother, Clare Thorpe, also of Redwood City. “They could call her at any hour if they got in a situation.”
Thorpe died Oct. 18 at age 44 from an apparent heart problem, her family said.
A service is planned for 1 p.m. today at St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church in Boulder.
Thorpe, who lived in Broomfield, wanted to be a pharmacist and studied for that for 18 months before she got a volunteer job working with kids at the Boulder Justice Center.
She taught at Boulder Preparatory, also for at-risk teens, from 1999 until last spring, when she moved to Justice High, which is at the Boulder Justice Center.
Thorpe always went the extra mile, not only in teaching but in being a friend and mentor and “mom,” friends said.
“She could be a drill sergeant or a friend” to the students, said Bruce Blodgett, headmaster at Boulder Prep.
“I think her success was based on a combination of tough love and always being there for the kids, even if it was 2 a.m.”
Blodgett said many of the kids Thorpe worked with didn’t have a lot of love or encouragement at home, and Thorpe made up for those losses.
“She was a powerful force,” he said.
“She was one of the top five human beings I’ve ever met,” said Boulder District Judge T.J. Cole, chairman of the board at both Justice and Boulder Prep. “She’d take kids and work with them and shine them up and send them out into the world.”
In addition to her regular duties, Thorpe went to the school football games – even if it meant a six-hour drive – and took students on field trips to museums, concerts or lectures. She brought in businesspeople to talk about their careers and even helped teens study for driving tests and then went with them to the test.
“She stuck by us, and I wouldn’t be (in college at CU) if it weren’t for Sharon,” said a former student, Dafna Gozani of Boulder.
Sharon Thorpe was born July 26, 1961, in Redwood City, Calif., and graduated from St. Francis High School in Mountain View, Calif., and Chico (Calif.) State University. She moved to Colorado to study pharmacy at the University of Colorado.
In addition to her mother and brother, she is survived by another brother, Gregory Thorpe of Troutdale, Ore. Her father, George Thorpe, and brother Daniel Thorpe preceded her in death.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at 303-820-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com.
