Sharon Swaney Cobb was a very good friend of mine when I lived in the small town of South Charleston, Ohio. Like all of my childhood friends, she knew me as Susie Kinnaird. She lived kitty-cornered across Mound Street from me. Her parents owned a church, and I remember singing and singing whenever I went with her. It was so much fun. I loved it.
Sharon was sort of a shy girl but very, very pretty. She was a year or two older than I was. I adored her and I looked up to her. One of her thumbs had been cut off. I do not know how but it was. I would hold my thumb back as if mine was cut off as well. This is how much I wanted to be just like her.
In 1963, my family moved to Florida, so I never saw her again. I was told about some of her life after I left, and I really hated what happened to her and her family. I was so shocked and hurt when I found out that this sweet person had gone through such a terrible ordeal and death.
This past June, I placed flowers on Sharon’s grave in Jamestown, Ohio, where she is buried alongside her father (who also died in Jonestown), her mother, her brother, and several other relatives.
I will always remember Sharon, and I pray she is in a safe place now. I love you, Sharon, and will see you again some day.