Sharon Madigan Linz

Sharon Madigan Linz was born in New York City on October 1, 1944, the second of five daughters of John and Frances (nee Kunna) Madigan. Her father was an executive with ABC radio and television and her mother was a homemaker. At age five Sharry and her family moved to the New Jersey suburbs. When Sharry was in middle school, the family moved to rural Maine where her father became director of a new television station. Sharry loved Maine and became a cheerleader at Lewiston High School before they moved back to New Jersey where Sharry graduated from Millburn High School in 1962. She then attended nursing school at the University of Connecticut, graduating in 1966 with a B.S. in Nursing. That summer at a wedding in upper state New York, Sharry, the ultimate city girl, met Ed Linz, the ultimate Kentucky hillbilly. It was not an immediate match made in heaven, but four years later, fate brought them together in California as Sharry was working at Stanford University Hospital and Ed was stationed 90 miles away on a submarine.

Ed and Sharry were married on Halloween, 1970, and began a Navy marriage with frequent moves from coast to coast. Sharry worked in each new location in a variety of nursing assignments while having three children and enduring lengthy separation from her husband at sea. When Ed’s final Navy assignment brought the family to northern Virginia, Sharry worked as an orthopedic nurse before beginning what for her was a dream job as a Fairfax County Public Health Nurse. When she retired from the Health Department in 2005, she was the county expert in communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis. Sharry continued part-time nursing work for INOVA hospital doing flu clinics and health fairs until retiring in 2015.

Sharry loved returning to her roots in Maine where she became an excellent kayaker and hiker. She was a skilled seamstress and enjoyed restoring antique furniture. Even as Sharry’s memory began to fade, she traveled with Ed to over 20 countries around the world and was the life of the party with each travel group. As her disease progressed, Sharry fought valiantly against Alzheimer’s but ultimately succumbed on June 18, 2026.

Sharry is survived by her husband, Ed; son, Aaron Linz, and wife Barbara; daughter, Nelle Linz, and husband Gary Springhorn and granddaughters, Nichole, Karina, and Jessica; daughter, Emily Linz; grandchildren, Isabella and Xander; and four sisters, Patricia Madigan, Cornelia Veazey, Martha Montesi, and Mary Ann Madigan.