Sharon Brown Bevan: January 26, 1932 – October 28, 2023

Sharon (Sherry) Bevan’s legacy of light and love came to a beautiful close on October 28th, 2023, at home in Casa Dorinda surrounded by her loving family. A private family ceremony will be held January 26, 2024, at Santa Barbara Cemetery.

Sherry was a rare Mayflower descendant and fourth-generation Californian. In 1923, her parents built their home in what was then the new neighborhood of Beverly Hills. Sherry grew up happily with her older brother Volney (V.V.) and her many pets. She had a deep love of animals, which continued all her life. At Beverly Hills High School she graduated as Class Valedictorian. In 1954, she graduated from UCLA after a transformative semester at Louisiana State University, thoroughly enjoying her time there as a Delta Gamma. After graduation, Sherry taught elementary school until, in 1956, she married Bruce Bevan, her beloved husband of 67 years. She was an active volunteer in L.A. community affairs, including the Assistance League, the Nine O’clock Players and the Junior League. 

Sherry and Bruce lived for years in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles, where they raised their daughter and son. Sherry was a brilliant gardener and created gorgeous, sprawling gardens in every home she lived in. Her specialty was growing magnificent roses that she was known to bring by the bucketful to delighted friends.

When Bruce retired from his litigation practice in 1989, he and Sherry moved north to Santa Barbara. They had seven rewarding years at El Capitan Ranch on a large avocado orchard overlooking the ocean, and then moved to Montecito, where they spent their remaining years together.

Sherry may be best remembered as a talented artist. Once her children were grown, she had time to return to her first love – oil painting. A frequent exhibitor at local and regional juried shows, she won dozens of awards and had one-woman shows in the Los Angeles area as well as in Santa Barbara.

Also a published poet, Sherry initiated a popular class in poetry for teenagers at La Posada Juvenile Hall. She taught the reading of poetry as well as writing, helping her students find emotional release through telling their own stories. The students were drawn to her open-hearted kindness, and she helped many of them during a difficult period in their young lives. 

Sherry continued to write poetry in recent years. Her poem “We Wished So Hard for Water” commemorating the tragic Montecito mudslide of 2018 appeared in the Montecito Journal. She also wrote numerous poems for Casa Dorinda’s Spectator and published a book of earlier poems for her family. Sherry found time as well to volunteer for the Music Academy, SCAPE, and the Santa Barbara Art Association. 

She shared her selfless warmth, kindness and generosity with everyone she met. She is deeply loved, and will be greatly missed by her countless friends, but especially by her husband Bruce, her daughter Laurie, her son Craig, her daughter-in-law Anne, and her four grandsons Rowan, Ian, Connor and Grant. Anyone who was ever lucky enough to meet her was invariably touched by her grace, her beauty, and her goodness. The world lost a true angel and treasure in Sharon Bevan, but was so fortunate to have had her.