Obituary of Sharon Abley Gould

Sharon Abley Gould, April 9, 1936 - September 7, 2022 Sharon Lynn Abley Gould was an active businesswoman, wife, and mother of four. She excelled and created beauty everywhere she lived. Sharon's openness and loyalty drew friends who stayed close to the end of her life. She is deeply missed. Sharon was born in Aberdeen, South Dakota to Harold and Evelyn Schultz Abley. Raised in the prairie towns of Grand Forks, North Dakota and Grand Island, Nebraska, she took up golf, archery, duck hunting, and canoeing. She spent her childhood summers on Lake Bemidji, Minnesota, and explored the Rocky Mountain West on family car trips. Sharon's discipline and focus helped her become an accomplished pianist in high school. She turned down college acceptances from Julliard and the upper Midwest's fine universities to study chemistry at Smith College. There she made friends with whom she remained close until her passing. She also met her husband and partner of nearly sixty years, William "Bill" Everett Gould, a recent product of the United States Army and Williams College. The young couple followed Bill's first job to Niagara Falls, New York where she gave birth to sons, William "Bill", Jr. and John. For two years they lived in Watertown, Massachusetts, while Bill received his MBA from Harvard University. In 1965, Bill and Sharon's mutual love of adventure and travel led Bill to accept a job in the United Kingdom. The births of Whitney and Nicholas completed the young family. Sharon immersed herself in the British countryside and gardens, and discovered the joy of restoring antique furniture. Several trips to Switzerland introduced her to skiing, a passion she pursued until her last trip to Stratton, Vermont at the age of 84. The family returned to the United States in 1969 and settled down in Wilton, Connecticut. Sharon and Bill joined Saint Matthew's Episcopal Church where, in addition to singing in the choir, Sharon co-organized the annual Canterbury Market, breaking records for fund-raising each year. She learned to play tennis and paddleball and made a group of lifelong friends. In 1975, Sharon made a resolute decision to establish greater equality in her marriage and agency in her life by entering the business world. At the age of 40, she enrolled in the MBA program at the University of Connecticut. She graduated at the top of her class in 1977 and took a position in commercial banking at Hartford National Bank (later Connecticut National Bank). As the one of first women executives in her organization, Sharon encountered challenges that the younger men at her level did not face. Her efforts helped create more inclusive practices at the bank and eased the way for the women executives who followed. She often repeated a truism of the day, "A woman has to be twice as good as a man to succeed." Along the way, she helped finance dozens of small and medium-sized businesses, including providing capital at a crucial moment to Cannondale bicycles, one of the giants in the industry today. In her leisure time Sharon studied gardening. She gradually transformed her own yard into a mix of formal and countryside garden that was featured in a national gardening magazine. Her children often returned from school to find her weeding flower beds in her banker's "power suit." Sharon's career took her to Hartford, Stamford, and finally Westport, Connecticut, where she retired in 1995 at the rank of Vice President. In 1996, Sharon and Bill moved to Chatham, Massachusetts. They purchased an 18th century house complete with racoons living in the walls. Sharon's loving and historically respectful restoration of "The Red Tavern," won local awards, but more importantly, it became a summer destination for their growing band of married children and grandchildren, each of whom came to love the Cape's long summer beach days and equally long family dinners. Sharon cultivated and captured friends wherever she went and is remembered for being a welcoming and gracious host. To the end she kept up with fellow Smith alumnae. Many of her long-time group of friends from Wilton migrated together to Cape Cod where they continued their fellowship. Golfing, tennis, fishing, and bridge kept the friends together. Bill and Sharon took full advantage of their long retirement. They immersed themselves in the life of St Christopher's Episcopal Church and took extended trips to every continent but Antarctica. From behind the wheel of a Jeep, they drove through every state in the Union taking the back roads whenever possible. After Bill passed in 2017, Sharon took one last trip to explore the garden culture of Japan with a close friend from college. Sharon moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2019, a location she chose as a hub for family Christmas gatherings in the mountain towns of Salida, Frisco, or Crested Butte. As late as June 2022, she fished the waters of the Missouri River in Montana with her daughter, Whitney, a gold medalist in casting at the 2022 World Championships. From her balcony in Colorado Springs, Sharon loved to watch the summer storms pass over the mountains and disappear into the plains. Sharon is survived by her children, William Jr. (Stephanie), John (Simona), Whitney (Mike), and Nick (Lanie); and by her grandchildren, Joseph Christian, Alexander, Lukas, Lily, Mark, and William. In lieu of flowers, family requests Memorial Contributions to be made to St. Christopher's Episcopal Church in Chatham or the Smith College General Scholarship Aid Fund.