Sharilyn Silver Nelson was a starter and a joiner who made things happen no matter where she lived.

She was active in many Truckee area organizations until her death on Aug. 31. She was 73.

Sharilyn was born Nov. 12, 1939, in Salt Lake City. This is where she spent the bulk of her childhood.

Sharilyn Nelson

She learned to ski at age 6 and was still on the slopes into her 70s. Skiing became a family activity for the Nelsons when they lived in the Bay Area. And it continued when Sharilyn and husband Chris moved to Truckee in 1995. Eventually their grandchildren became their skiing partners.

The home Sharilyn and Chris built was featured one year on the Truckee-Tahoe Home Tour.

Sharilyn met her future husband at a Laundromat near the University of Utah campus where they were both students. She earned a bachelor’s in education in 1961. And they were married a year later.

While in college, Sharilyn was a drum majorette, in the homecoming court and crowned the engineering queen. She did a bit of modeling right after college.

In addition to her exterior beauty, it is her inner beauty that family and friends remember most. She was one of the most selfless people anyone could ever know.

Teaching first grade in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas were her first career jobs. When the family of five moved to Concord in 1971, Sharilyn taught music and early childhood development at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill.

She was also a concert pianist and always had a grand piano that she would play at home. When the windows were open neighbors could hear the music she created as her hands gracefully caressed the ivory.

The love of music was something the couple shared through the years.

Sharilyn would later enter the business world as a recruiter for temporary and full-time positions, mostly in finance and high tech.

She started a number of clubs in Tahoe Donner – Bridge Club, Gourmet Group, Book Club, and Senior Alpine Ski Club (with husband Chris). At Sugar Bowl Ski Area she volunteered as a mountain host. She was also involved with fundraising and scholarship awards with the American Association of University Women and the Chi Omega Sorority at University of Utah.

She always said one of her main goals was to ensure her three children earned college degrees. They did, with one earning an advanced degree.

In 2012, Sharilyn was preceded in death by her husband, Chris. They had been married for nearly 50 years.

Survivors include son Matt Nelson of Truckee, daughters Courtney Nelson Murrell (Mark) of Truckee and Kimberly Nelson Eilian (Kevin) of New York City, grandchildren Gavin and Megan Murrell and Jerome Eilian, and sister Michelle Silver Whitmore of Park City, Utah.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Truckee-Donner branch of the American Association of University Women, P.O. Box 1326, Truckee, CA 96160. Please make check payable to AAUW CA Special Projects Fund or (AAUW CA SPF), with Tech Trek — Truckee Donner branch or (TT-TD branch) on the memo line. Tech Trek was Sharilyn’s signature endeavor—math and science camps/education for girls.

An open house will be at the family home in Truckee on Sept. 22 from noon-4pm.