Tom Sharratt

Tom Sharratt, age 82, of Westby, passed away on Monday, December 16, 2024. Tom was born in Milwaukee on August 1, 1942, to Kathleen (Hering) and Bill Sharratt and lived as a child in Madison, Appleton, and Milwaukee before completing a bachelor’s degree in agriculture at UW - Madison in 1964. At the same time, he received a commission in the US Regular Army and served on active duty for 21 years as a Field Artillery officer. He retired as a Major, having served in a variety of assignments in the US; over seven years in Europe with US, Belgian, and British armies where he specialized in the readiness and security of nuclear weapons; and in Viet Nam in 1967-68. While in the Army, he completed a master’s degree in Agricultural Economics at Purdue University. He shortly thereafter purchased a farm in Timber Coulee near the Snowflake Ski Club, in Westby, WI in 1972.

In 1985, he became a high school teacher in Des Moines, Iowa, where he taught High School Junior ROTC at Hoover High School. He enjoyed working with his students and their parents, teaching leadership and citizenship skills. One of his most fondly remembered achievements was teaching a blind student to rappel from a 40-foot-high tower. In 1996, Tom and his beloved wife Sharon (Burkhalter) moved to their farm in Timber Coulee, and enjoyed the rest of his life raising trees and organic crops. He and Sharon shared a deep love for the land, and worked hard at being good stewards. They chose to protect their land with a land conservation easement with the Mississippi Valley Conservancy in 2016. He had four loves in his life - Sharon, his wife of 41 years; his two children and four grandchildren; agriculture; and railroads. Many people knew Tom only as “the guy with a railroad in his front yard.”

He and Sharon traveled extensively, riding and photographing railroads in the US, Canada, Latin America, China, Cuba, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. They also invested in railroads and worked together for several months each year for over seven years on a privately owned rail car. He enjoyed both writing and photography, and had several articles published in TRAINS magazine and Army publications. For several years, he also wrote a monthly column for the local paper entitled “Where in the World are We?” under the pseudonym of “The Lost Wanderer.” Tom was active in the Westby United Methodist Church, Coon Valley American Legion Post 116, Westby VFW Post 8021, the Lexington Group, and a number of railroad museums around the country. He was also active in the Westby Area Schools as a volunteer representing veterans.

Tom is survived by his older brother, Richard (Dianne) of Reedsburg WI; his wife, Sharon; his first wife, Mary Smart of Des Moines; his daughter, Stephanie (David) Horak of Urbandale, IA; his son, retired Army Colonel Lee (Lyndsay) Sharratt of Winterset, IA; and grandchildren: Garrett Horak, Eleanor Horak, Jennessa Sharratt, and Lainey Sharratt.

A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 18, 2025, at Westby United Methodist Church. A visitation will be held from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Friday, January 17, 2025, at Vosseteig Funeral Home in Westby. An additional visitation will be held from 9:30 a.m. until the time of service.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the Church, Westby Area School District, or one of the veteran’s organizations he belonged to.

For those unable to travel, Tom's Celebration of Life will be livestreamed on our Facebook page here .

Vosseteig Funeral Home & Crematory in Westby is serving Tom's family.

708 S. Main Street

Westby, WI 54667

(608) 634-2100