Sharon DeMaio

Updated March 2025

I am still living in Vermont in the house I shared with my second husband Alex. We were married for just under 26 years when he died from lung cancer in 2003. I’ve been in the same house for 46 years. The longest I had lived in a house previously was 12 years, and I recall getting antsy to move when that marker surfaced in Vermont. Fortunately, we stayed put.

I continued to work for Dartmouth College for several more years after Alex died and enjoyed my position with the Board of Trustees. I especially liked liaising with Dartmouth’s Honorary Degree Recipients, organizing and traveling to Board meetings and events when they were scheduled in other parts of the country, attending lectures and events on campus, and working with dedicated and accomplished faculty and staff. Following a brief stint in the Advancement Office at Middlebury College, I returned to Dartmouth as the Development Officer at the Hood Museum of Art, where I was responsible for membership, grants, and donor engagement. In 2009, I changed course and 200 credits later; I graduated with a certificate in Art and Antiques Appraisal Studies from the Rhode Island School of Design. Shortly, thereafter S. D. Greene Appraisal Resources Consulting LLC was born. I appraised some wonderful art in private collections and also had projects through and with the National Park Service. I retired in April of 2023, and am thinking about life choices in the next phase.

My daughter Laurie would like me to move closer to her in Massachusetts. She and her husband are the parents of my two grandsons Wilson and Andrew. Wil was hired by Genentech in South San Francisco right out of Wesleyan University. When he was 22, they sent him on a business trip to Copenhagen. His wife Alandra finished a doctorate in earth sciences at Stanford in 2023 and completed a fellowship there in January of this year. I am also happy to tell you that they had their first child on April 5, 2024, and I am now great grandmother to a sweet and happy baby boy! Laurie and my daughter Karen are twins. Laurie has been the Director of Technology at a school system for many years and was asked to be the Principal of a school, as well. Karen has an advanced degree in biochemistry and works at Bowdoin College in the Biochemistry Department familiarizing students with sound lab and research techniques. She also assists the professor by conducting experiments and reviewing papers related to that research. My son Jim finished an MBA and by choice is self-employed as a small business consultant. He and his wife love to travel and have twice served in the Peace Corps. The first assignment was 27-months in Mongolia and the second 27-months in Zambia. Whenever they are able, they travel to other countries. Jim is an birder and at last count they had traveled to 20 countries.

In the beginning, I traveled by myself to Florence and Rome, which is a great way to learn resilience. Alex and I took a trip to England and Scotland together in 2001 and in 2017 most of the family traveled to Sienna for a vacation. Sienna was wonderful. We rented a house, shopped at the local Co-op, took turns cooking, ate out and al fresco at the B&B/farm/vineyard a short walk from our rental. Our last event was Il Palio, which is a bareback horse race around the Piazza del Campo that has been held twice each year since the 17th century (The horses are blessed in the church). If you decide to go, wear a hat and bring water or buy it there (vendors sell frozen water in large clear plastic bottles from carts in the Piazza. It’s less for drinking than for holding on the back of one’s neck. It can be very hot standing in the sun with thousands of spectators. Definitely worth it though! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palio_di_Siena)

I look forward to seeing and catching up with you in September!

All good wishes, Sharon

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Previous submission

Life goes well. I was divorced from David Moulton, Class of 1963, after twelve years, but following four years of being a single mom I married Alex Greene. Between us we have five children—three mine and two his—and four grandchildren. Counting spouses and significant others we’re at critical mass for our antique cape in the country. Somehow we all end up in the kitchen!

After high school, many years after, I finished a B.A. at the University of Vermont and a Master's degree at Dartmouth College, where I concentrated in art history and American decorative arts. I worked for several years in the museum field, then changed direction and accepted a position at Dartmouth because I love the Hanover/Norwich area – not to mention the school. I found out on the class web page that Marianne Lillard and Mary Beth Dingman also live in the area. I’ve probably run into them at Ben & Gerry's without even knowing it. No, no, really, I’ve only gained 20 pounds…

My work as Assistant to the Board of Trustees keeps me busy and engaged, but I still manage to find time to hang out with friends, wander in museum galleries, and travel a bit (all roads do lead to Rome). I particularly love going to the tiny coastal village in Maine, where Alex and his family have spent part of every summer since 1945! The family has changed a bit, but the village remains essentially the same.

Not much time for volunteer work anymore, but I’ve chaperoned many a class trip, served as an emergency room liaison at a regional hospital, and, also, as a planning commissioner for our town. The latter gave me first-hand experience with some of the development issues pressing rural Vermont.

Thanks to the dedicated efforts of Jeff Kublin, I look forward to seeing everyone in April. I’ve thought of many of you over the years and wondered how you are, where you are, and what you are doing? It’s been great fun reading your bios and retrieving lost thoughts. Thanks for helping me find them.