Sharon lived her life to the fullest. She didn't take any grief from anyone, and heaven forbid you tried to sass her! She was passionate about the Ocean, her husband, and her friends, and never hesitated to add someone to her Christmas table and call them family. Sharon proved that just because you were crowned Rodeo Princess and not Queen did NOT mean you couldn't change the world, and so she did.
Obituary
Bonnie Sharon Meeker
Bonnie Sharon Meeker was born in Caldwell, Idaho, on October 31, 1935, and passed away at her home in Exeter, NH on June 29, 2025, at 89 years of age.
Sharon was the first child of Bonnie (Short) and Dayton Finchum. She grew up on a farm in Henley, a farming district just east of Klamath Falls, OR. Sharon loved horses and riding and was Henley’s representative Rodeo Princess for the 1952 Klamath County Roundup. That same year an unruly horse initiated a sequence of events that led to her meeting with David Meeker. She married that lucky young man three years later and began a marriage that was to last 70 years.
Sharon graduated from Henley High School, Class of 1953, and enrolled in the University of Oregon. After her marriage to David, she transferred to Oregon State University and graduated in 1957 with a degree in Education.
While David was in graduate school, Sharon taught fifth grade classes in Redwood City, CA. Her interest in and love of the marine environment, which became so important to her later life, was aroused by the tide pools of Half Moon Bay on the California coast just west of Redwood City. Each year her class enjoyed a classroom filled with aquaria and other relics of the annual field trip to the tide pools.
Sharon enjoyed music and spent many happy hours with her guitar and singing with friends and neighbors. While living in New Jersey, her singing voice earned her a place in the Rutgers Choir and, with the Choir and the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, she participated in two concerts at Carnegie Hall and another at the opening of the Montreal World’s Fair.
Her children, Betsy/Liz and Sam, were born in 1966 and 1967, respectively, while the family lived in New Jersey.
She was a good sailor and enjoyed many days cruising in coastal waters from New Jersey to Downeast Maine with Dave, with Liz and Sam, and, later, with grandchildren. She did, however, have a very strong aversion to a luffing jib. The appearance of a happy and peaceful marriage could be questioned when a careless husband-helmsman allowed the slightest wrinkle in the jib.
Sharon was an activist and not one who passively watched events occur. While in New Jersey she was an active member of Women’s Strike for Peace and directly communicated her opposition to the Vietnam War to New Jersey’s political leaders in Trenton and Washington, D.C. She also led in the formation of a tenants’ organization which, by a combination of political means and direct action, was successful in overcoming a discriminatory and predatory management.
This experience proved valuable after the move to New Hampshire. Two months following the family's move from Dover to Durham Point Aristotle Onassis’ Olympic Oil disclosed plans to build the world’s largest oil refinery two miles from the family’s Victorian house. Sharon helped in the organization of Save Our Shores, the citizen group formed to combat the refinery construction, and her tireless work to coordinate anti-refinery citizen activity within the NH seacoast was an important factor in the successful defeat of the ill-proposed project.
In 1982 Sharon joined the Seagrant Marine Program at the University of New Hampshire as the coordinator of volunteer guides at the University’s Jackson Laboratory. In the following years she transformed that small group into a nationally and internationally recognized organization, the UNH Marine Docents, consisting of more than 100 well-trained volunteers supporting marine, and more broadly, environmental education in northern New England. She developed programs and teaching materials for environmental education ranging from elementary schools to adult groups. Among the programs created by Sharon and conducted by the Docents and others were: The Day of the Coast at area schools, the Floating Lab on a fishing boat out of Seabrook, NH, the similar Great Bay Floating Lab, the SeaTrek lecture program, the NSF supported Math and Marine Science Program for high school students, and a week-long “Roads Scholar Seacoast Experience” for adults. She also served as an active board member of the Gundalow Company, the Seacoast Science Center, and the Great Bay Discovery Center. In addition, Sharon, assisted by the Docents, organized two conferences of the National Marine Education Association. In 1985 she was invited to Forteleza, Ceara, in northeast Brazil to assist in developing a marine education program affiliated with the aquarium of the University of Ceara. That relationship expanded and continued for several years. In particular, she and her Brazilian counterparts organized two conference/workshops supported by funds obtained by Sharon from various agencies.
After her retirement from UNH Sharon turned her attention and energies to the Lamprey River. She was active in the successful effort to have the Lamprey included in and protected by the U.S. Park Service Wild and Scenic River Program. Later, while serving as Chair of the Lamprey River Advisory Committee funded by the Park Service, she created a Teachers’ Guide to the Lamprey River Watershed and, with others, conducted many educational and social activities relating to the history and the natural and cultural environment of the river. Sharon never stopped and before moving from Lee she chaired the Town’s Energy Committee and directed the transformation to low-energy lighting in many of the Town’s buildings.
In retrospect, it seems that Sharon’s administrative success is the result of three basic principles that, while she never exactly expressed them, she certainly exhibited them: 1. Things are never “good enough", if they can be better, they should be better. 2. Authority only goes down FROM her, not down TO her. 3. It is better to act and ask for forgiveness, if needed, rather than wait for permission.
She is survived by her husband of 70 years, Loren David Meeker, daughter Elizabeth Meeker and her husband, Mark Gingras, son Sam Meeker and his wife Kathleen, six grandchildren, and her brother, Walter Finchum. She was pre-deceased by sisters Sheila Ramey, Sharlene Croyden, and Coleen Hoffman.
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I'm so sorry to hear of your wife's passing. I remember her fondly. You two completely changed my life when I was a grad student at UNH in 1971-73. I went on to become a professor because of you. I tried to emulate how you taught when I became a professor. I tried to do for my students what you did for me. Forever, thank you.
I'm sincerely sorry for your loss.
Gordon Kraft
Her form of empowerment was less about talk than action, and yet thoughtful support and humor were innate in her every word! Sharon’s strength and clarity of vision were always paired with a deep sense of community, care and action.
Sharon’s legacy at SSC is profound and goes all the way back to its inception. The opportunities and impacts she imagined so many years ago are now our daily reality. We often speak about turning curiosity and wonder into action—and that’s exactly how Sharon lived her life : )
Her powerful influence in marine education stretches far beyond New Hampshire~ our tight-knit community is stronger and deeper for her incredible love, passion and grit. Sharon, you will be missed but never forgotten. Thank you!
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We will come together to remember and pay tribute to the wonderful person. While we mourn the loss of our dear, we also aim to cherish the moments shared and the joy brought into our lives. Your presence would mean a great deal to us during this time of remembrance and reflection.
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