Sharon Rebecca Parish, age 57, of Spotsylvania and Manassas, Virginia, died Wednesday, February 9, 2011, in a car accident while driving home from work.

Born April 24, 1953, in Marlinton, she was a daughter of the late Lloyd Joseph and Audrey Rose Woods.

Sharon began her career with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1971 as a GS4 secretary and worked her way up through the ranks to a Senior Intelligence level-3 position during her years with the federal government. She was recently promoted to the position of deputy director of acquisitions for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). She would have celebrated her 40^th anniversary with the federal government on September 11, 2011.

She received her associate's degree from Northern Virginia Community College, her bachelor's degree from George Mason University and her master's of business administration from Strayer University. A member of the National Conract Management Association, she negotiated many important contracts including the contract that set-up In-Q-Tel, a nonprofit corporation created to support the mission of the CIA. In 2005, she was named an Outstanding Woman of NGA, and in 2008, she was recognized by the director of national intelligence with the National Intelligence Career Achievement Medal.

In addition to her many contributions to the federal government, Sharon contributed her time and energy to a number of causes, including breast cancer awareness, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Arbor Day Foundation. She was a talented seamstress and donated numerous homemade chemotherapy hats to cancer patients.

Sharon was loved by all those who knew her and all those who encountered her. She will be dearly missed by her family and friends as well as associates in the intelligence community, and has left a void in all the various circles of which she was a crucial part.

She is survived by her husband of 35 years, Carleton Richard Parish; a brother, Charles Woods, and wife, Vicki, of Slaty Fork; a sister, Sandra Katrina Woods Beverage, and husband, Bobby, of Spotsylvania, Virginia; two nieces, Kathy Sheppard, and husband, David, and children, Annie and Elizabeth, of Orange, Virginia, and Penny Stacey, and husband, Bron, of Spotsylvania; two nephews, Danny Woods and Kenny Woods, both of Slaty Fork; and her and Carl's beloved Jack Russell Terrier, Lucky.

Family will receive friends Tuesday, February 15, from 6 -8 p.m. at Laurel Hill Funeral Home in Spotsylvania. Funeral service is Wednesday, February 16, 2 p.m. at the Laurel Hill Funeral Home with Jack Marcom and Bill Bates officiating. Interment will be in Laurel Hill Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be sent to Susan G. Komer for the Cure, PO Box 650309, Dallas, TX 75265-0309 or The Pocahontas Center, RR 1 Box 500, Marlinton, WV 24954.