Proclamation honors late educator

October 21, 2016

Thomas R. Throssell

Gila River Indian News

In an Oct. 4 proclamation, Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis officially designated Thursday, September 29, 2016, Sharon Kay Shelde Day.

According to Gov. Lewis’s proclamation, the day is designated in recognition of Shelde’s contributions and achievements as an educator at the Gila Crossing Community School and that the Gila River Indian Community is grateful for the hard work and dedication Shelde embodied. Her commitment to educating GRIC’s youth improved the educational and spiritual lives of the Community’s youth and families.

The proclamation said, “Ms. Shelde tirelessly spent 12 years pursuing the best interest of the Community and its children. Her dedication to the Community, through its youngest members, is boundless, and the Gila River Indian Community salutes Ms. Shelde for her 12 years of dedication, commitment and hard work nurturing the Gila River Indian Community through its children and families.”

“The Gila River Indian Community hereby pays special tribute to Ms. Shelde for being a supreme example of a human being who embodies a unique blend of leadership, devotion, compassion, and resourcefulness.”

Born in Phoenix in 1952, Shelde was raised in Komatke Village and attended South Mountain High School and graduated from Arizona State University in 2014.

Shelde was a certified Native Language Teacher by the Arizona Department of Education, one of only five individuals to receive the certificate, and was the cultural teacher at Gila Crossing Community School where she encouraged students to learn about O’otham Himdag.