Sharon Ann Van Amburg Radford

SHARON ANN VAN AMBURG RADFORD


January 2, 1945 - December 2, 2015

Biologist and teacher. Ave atque vale. One time a student asked her, "When did you decide to become a biologist?" She pondered a minute then answered, "I didn't decide. I've always been a biologist."

She was born in St. Louis while her father was a Marine pilot in the Pacific; she grew up in Dayton, Ohio. She completed high school in Texas City, Texas and attended The University of Texas-Austin, Rice University, UNC-Chapel Hill and Emory University as she completed several degrees. She met her husband James Elliot Radford at Rice University fifty years ago, when both of them had been drafted onto the Student Committee on Educational Policy. Immediately after graduation she went to Palermo, Sicily where she worked in the electron microscopy laboratory of Dr. Guiseppe Millonig, then returned to Houston where she was married on April 1, 1967. She moved to Atlanta in 1971, and has lived in Decatur since 1975. During her career she worked and taught at Texas, UNC, Georgia Tech, Emory University, Agnes Scott College and Georgia Perimeter College. She taught high school biology at Paideia School for nearly forty years, which including leading numerous "Georgia coast trips," as well as trips to the Galapagos Islands.

For the last twenty years she worked extensively in Advanced Placement Biology, with the Educational Testing Service and the College Board. For the last ten years she served on various College Board committees that developed curriculum and testing.
A year ago, just as her pancreatic cancer was diagnosed, she was elected president of the National Association of Biology Teachers.

She will leave a loving family and friends, among them her mother Nola Mae Weiershausen Van Amburg, her father Albert Lee Van Amburg, her daughter and son Anne Catherine Radford and James Agee Radford (Nicole Corrinne Dickens), her brothers and sister Albert Lee, James Walter, and Mary Kaye (Jeb Evans) Van Amburg, her grandchildren Avery Laura and Isabelle Ruby Radford, and her nieces and nephews Kristen Walsh (Brian) and John Van Amburg, Joseph (Sarah) and Benjamin Van Amburg, and Brant and Emily Evans. Her lifelong partner will miss her beyond measure.

A gathering for remembrance will be at A.S. Turner & Sons, Decatur - Sunday, December 6, at 3:00 PM.

Please consider donations to the Annual Fund of Paideia School, Atlanta for scholarships in her memory.


Funeral Home:
A. S. Turner & Sons
2773 North Decatur Road
Decatur, GA
30033