Sharon Anne Lake Dietzel

WEST CORNWALL ­— Sharon Anne Lake Dietzel died of ovarian cancer at her home on Dec. 1, 2010, surrounded by her husband, children, brother and her beloved pets.

A devoted teacher and administrator, Sharon also leaves behind the many students that she mentored and inspired throughout her career in education, initially at the Vail Deane School in Elizabeth, N.J., then from 1975 to1982, at the Columbus School for Girls in Columbus, Ohio, where she served as teacher, and eventually as assistant headmaster.  

While working toward her master’s degree in education at Columbia University, which she received in 1989, Sharon simultaneously taught mathematics at The Brearley School in Manhattan from 1987 to 1989.

But it was Sharon’s work at the Greenwich Academy (GA) that represented the apex of her career as an educator.  Singularly devoted to all-girls education, Sharon loved every aspect of her life at GA, stating: “What I thrive on is the voice of intelligent women, no matter their age ... Women have voices here and I wanted to be one of them.â€�   From 1989 until her “first retirementâ€� in 1996, Sharon served as head of middle school and then as head of the upper school. Failing at her first retirement attempt, Sharon returned to the position until 2006.

Upon relocating with her husband, Al, to the Northwest Corner, Sharon shared with the local community the passion and inspiration that she had previously poured into her school communities, participating in the Hawthorne Club, the Cornwall Historical Society and Chronicle and the Cornwall Library, and devoting much time and energy to her congregation of the Chapel of All Saints.  She also found joy in knitting and water aerobics classes.

Sharon is survived by her husband, Al Dietzl; her brother, Daniel; her children, Jill and Scott; her stepchildren, Cathy and Debbie; seven grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

A celebration of her life will be held at the Chapel of All Saints at the North Cornwall Meeting House on Town Street at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 11.   

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Salisbury Visiting Nurse Association, Salisbury, CT 06068.

The Kenny Funeral Home in Sharon has charge of the arrangements.

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less