Sharon Lee Cordero

June 29, 1941 - January 13, 2012

Sharon was born at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital to June and Clifford Nayh in 1941. She lived on Gillespie Street and attended Harding Elementary School, La Cumbre Junior High, and graduated from Santa Barbara High School in the class of 1959. After graduation she attended Santa Barbara City College while working at the only local miniature golf course in Santa Barbara, Shady Acres, and her family's local restaurant, Cliff Nayh's House of Famous Chili. She then started her 45 year career in the Health Information field, which included 30 years at Cottage Hospital as an Accredited Record Technician, later becoming a Record Registered Health Information Technician. She also was the Director of Medical Records at Santa Barbara's Memorial Rehab Hospital, and for several years was a Medical Review/Data Analyst at Professional Standards Review Organization (PSRO) for the tri-county area. Also during her career, she spent two years in Hawaii at Kaopaolini Hospital, and six years at Ventura County Memorial Hospital before returning to Cottage Hospital and retiring in 2008, after which she became an Auxiliary Volunteer. When Sharon was 30 years old, she was diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney disease, a disease that took the life of her Mother, Grandmother and many members of her family. She was on dialysis for two years before receiving a donated kidney from her sister in 1995. The kidney functioned perfectly until her death and she was always grateful for the additional 16 1/2 years of life due to the transplant. During the long disease progression and dialysis, she stayed optimistic and never let it get her down. Through many complications and related operations, she always remained strong, many times going straight from her office to check in for surgery, rarely ever missing a day of work due to her illness. Her stoic attitude and sense of humor will always be an inspiration to all who knew her. Some of her favorite hobbies included making beautiful handmade creative cards, crocheting personal afghans for her friends and family, making unique individualized heirloom needlepoint Christmas stockings for special friends and every member of the family. Sharon loved her time spent traveling with her sister to foreign countries. She is survived by her brother Michael A. Nayh and his wife Marilyn, younger sister Kathy Elizalde as well as five nieces, nephews, and thirteen great nieces and nephews all to whom she was known to as "Auntie." She also leaves behind her wonderful "family-through-marriage," which includes the Cordero, Elizalde and Lopez family. She will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her. She said that in lieu of flowers, she would love to be remembered with a donation to any one of the following wonderful organizations: Fresenius Medical Care Santa Barbara Community Dialysis Center - 222 Pesetas Ln, Santa Barbara, CA 93110. National Kidney Foundation - 15490 Ventura Blvd Ste 210, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403-3016. Or a charity of your choice.