Sharon Kay Vance, Skamania County Clerk for 20 years, passed away Oct. 1, 2026, after a six-year battle with cancer.
A Celebration of Life will be held on a date to be determined.
Sharon Kay (Pavlish) Vance, 71, passed away on October 1, 2026, in Hood River, OR, after a courageous, 6-year battle with cancer.
Sharon was born on March 10, 1955, in Crete, NE, the second child born to John H. and Mary Ann (Kohout) Pavlish. Growing up on a farm southwest of Crete, she attended one-room country school districts No. 10 and No. 25, through the 8th grade. Sharon was an excellent speller, as she won the county spelling contest and went on to the state contest, where she finished runner-up. Growing up, Sharon spent a lot of time helping her mother care for Sharon’s younger siblings while learning to cook and bake for the family.
Continuing her education, Sharon attended Dorchester High School, graduating in 1973 as the class salutatorian. She later attended NE Wesleyan University in Lincoln, NE.
Sharon Kay Vance
Sharon worked at Farmland Foods in Crete for a short time, hanging hams, until her adventurous nature led her heart to Washington state. There she had many various jobs. Her spelling and typing skills got her a job at the local newspaper office. To help pay her bills, she rented a room in a stable, where she fed and cared for the horses, which they let her know when it was time for a meal, with a swift kick to the stable wall. Later she found herself working at the county jail, as a dispatcher. This led her to the Skamania County courthouse, where Sharon started as a court reporter and worked her way up to County Clerk, which she held for 20 years, until retirement.
Sharon was blessed to meet the love of her life, Tom Vance, and they were married on Sept. 21, 1996. Together they built their home in Carson, Washington. They loved their black lab puppies, which they raised and trained for guide dogs. Oftentimes a young puppy in training could be found under her desk at the courthouse.
Tom and Sharon Vance are shown here with their beloved black lab Rosie.
As they both were retired, Sharon and Tom enjoyed traveling with their RV, always finding a new, beautiful campsite to stay at on their visits to and from Nebraska.
Sharon was an excellent seamstress. Her creative and meticulous ways produced the cutest Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls, Christmas stockings and cherished ornaments. She loved crafting gift baskets for charity auctions. Sharon also enjoyed teaching young 4-H’ers how to sew and bake. Sharon and Tom enjoyed the outdoors together, vegetable and flower gardening, and boat rides on Tom’s boat, he named “The Rose of Sharon.”
Sharon Vance is shown here (on right) with her sister Kate on her husband's boat, which he named "The Rose of Sharon."
Survivors include her husband Tom of 30 years, daughter Elizabeth Bradshaw, mother Mary Ann Pavlish, sisters Becky (Bill) Ripa, Barb (Gerald) Vlasin, Kate (Dan) Keller, brothers Bob (Sue) Pavlish, Norm (Janet) Pavlish, brothers, sisters-in-laws Mark & Marni (Walker) Vance, Dale & Denise Vance & Ken Vance, many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.
And last but not least, her beloved black lab Rosie.
Sharon was preceded in death by her father John H. Pavlish, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and mother and father-in-law, Donna Faye and Roy Vance.
A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date. This obituary will be updated when a date has been determined.
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