Sharon Maxyne (Payton) Neible, age 86, went home to be with her Lord and Savior on June 27, 2026. She was born October 12, 1939, to Paul and Margaret (Cooper) Payton in Auburn, Indiana. Sharon attended Waterloo High School in Waterloo, Indiana, and met John Neible, who she married on January 28, 1956. The couple settled in southern Michigan, where they had four amazing daughters over the course of the next eleven years. As a young mom, Sharon decided to take her daughters to church in Girard, Michigan, and came to a saving faith in Jesus, which transformed her life. Sharon held various jobs to help support her family, including working at a variety store, a bank, and with special needs children at the local high school. When the family relocated to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1980, Sharon began working at Marsh and McClennan insurance, and remained with Marsh through the remainder of her career. After retirement, she enjoyed gardening, visiting thrift stores with her daughters and taking daily walks, and while Sharon struggled with memory loss in her last several years, she was able to live with one of her daughters in Wisconsin, where she continued to enjoy time with family until her passing.
Throughout her life, Sharon was passionate about Jesus, her family, and showing love through food. She loved Jesus and wanted the same for others; most mornings of her adult life, she would wake early to read her Bible and pray, and she would often share how she was praying for the people around her. She also loved her family. Each child and grandchild knew they were welcome to stop by whenever they wanted, and she would call her loved ones just to leave a message that she loved them or was thinking about them. Sharon doted on her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, teaching them “patty-cake,” nursery rhymes and old-time songs when they were young and buying toys to keep at her house for their visits. In addition, Sharon’s love language was food. She was well-known for her cooking, and she used it to show the people in her life how much they were loved; one of her first questions to visitors was to ask whether they were hungry, and she was always willing to make a sandwich or offer one of the many sweets she was known to bake. Sharon also made Sunday dinner after church for her family most weeks, even as her family expanded with the marriages of her daughters and their subsequent children. These dinners fostered great connection between the family, but there was also always room for another at the table, with friends and coworkers often joining. She is already missed.
Sharon is survived by her four daughters, Kristi (Scott) Banta, Rebecca (Todd) Barsness, Kim (Brian) Hettinga, and Candace (John) Krugman; her grandchildren Nick (Jaime) Banta, Katie (Josh) Brood, Johnathan Barsness, Matt (Kate) Banta, Jordan (Kara) Banta, Josh (Allie) Hettinga, Drew Barsness, Tim (Kelsey) Hettinga, Joe Barsness, Cortney Krugman, Hudson Barsness, Caleb Krugman, Demond Barsness and De’Shawn Barsness, as well as twenty great-grandchildren; two sisters, Judy Drerup and Sandra (Dan) Ousley, sister-in-law Sharon Lee Neible, and many beloved nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 67 years, John H. Neible, her parents Paul and Margaret Payton, her brothers-in-law Carson Neible and Jack Drerup, and precious great granddaughter Mina Grace Hettinga.
A private family service will take place at a later date.