The Sharmers

since 1774

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Ruby E. Wilson Sharmer

Ruby E. Wilson Sharmer · 1909–1981 · the letters’ reader

Ruby E. Wilson sitting on a low stone wall at a canyon overlook, in a patterned jacket, knickers and long socks
Ruby E. Wilson.

At a glance

  • Born: 1 February 1909, Visalia, California
  • Died: 18 May 1981
  • Buried: Merced Cemetery, Merced, California
  • Parents: James William Wilson and Nettie A. Holt Wilson
  • Married: Joseph Sharmer II, 5 July 1938, Kingman, Arizona
  • Children: a daughter (stillborn 1939), Joseph III, Jay and Laurel
  • Known for: postmaster of Planada; every letter on this site was written to her

Life story

Ruby was born in Visalia, the daughter of James W. Wilson and Nettie A. Holt, who were both born in Texas. Her father was the eldest of the ten children of Samuel and Olive (Anderson) Wilson, as Laurel remembers it. She graduated from the University of California (“Cal”) in 1930 and went to Arizona to teach high school in Tombstone. After a few years she gave up the job and came home to Planada, where her father was postmaster; he passed the job on to her (The Postmaster of Planada).

She built her own house in Planada from a $700 mail-order kit. Joe Sharmer met her at the post office counter when he came in to mail a package. When the letters reached her in the winter of 1937–38 she was “Miss Ruby E. Wilson” of 745 Broadway, Planada. Six months after Joe came home, on 5 July 1938, they married in Kingman, Arizona.

Their first child, a daughter, was stillborn in September 1939; Ruby’s mother wrote that Joe was “so heartbroken” (The Little Granddaughter). Joseph III followed in 1941, Jay in 1943, and then Laurel.

In 1952, Laurel remembers, Ruby took the children and Monty the Airedale to Santa Cruz while Joe stayed behind in Planada; later they decided to sell the Planada house. Joe died in Santa Cruz in February 1954, and the condolences, the court’s memorial and the Assembly’s resolution were all sent to Mrs. Ruby Sharmer (In Memoriam, 1954). Ruby died in 1981 and is buried in Merced Cemetery, in the Knights of Pythias section, Lot 58, grave #1103, the same family lot as her parents: her mother Nettie is in grave #487, and the cemetery’s register lists her father, who died on 2 April 1944, as “Joseph W. Wilson,” apparently a slip for James W. Wilson. (Merced Cemetery District, email to Joe Sharmer, 13 November 2026.)

Timeline

  • 1909, February 1. Born in Visalia, California.
  • 1930. Graduates from Cal; teaches high school in Tombstone, Arizona.
  • 1930s. Comes home and takes over the Planada post office from her father.
  • 1937–38. Joe’s letters arrive from the East.
  • 1938, July 5. Marries Joe Sharmer in Kingman, Arizona.
  • 1939, September. Their first child, a daughter, is stillborn; she is buried in Babyland at Merced Cemetery (Masonic section, Lot 9, plot #146) under a small heart-shaped headstone (The Little Granddaughter).
  • 1940, July 19. Co-signs a $1,500 loan with Joe (the note).
  • 1941, April 30. Son Joseph III born in Fresno.
  • 1943, July 7. Son Jay born in Fresno.
  • 1944, April 2. Her father, James W. Wilson, dies.
  • 1952. Moves to Santa Cruz with the children.
  • 1954, February 26. Joe dies in Santa Cruz.
  • 1956, September 5. Her mother, Nettie, dies.
  • 1981, May 18. Dies; buried in Merced Cemetery.

Photos

Joe and Ruby Sharmer standing beside a car in front of a white house in Planada
With Joe, in front of the house she built from a kit in Planada.

Letters, records & stories

Family

  • Father: James William Wilson (1882–1944), postmaster of Planada; the eldest of the ten children of Samuel and Olive (Anderson) Wilson
  • Mother: Nettie A. Holt Wilson (1890–1956)
  • Husband: Joseph Sharmer II (1897–1954)
  • Children: a daughter (1939), Joseph III (1941–2017), Jay (1943–2006), Laurel
  • Grandchildren: Joseph IV, Jay Jr. and Randy

Still to find

  • The years she taught in Tombstone and became postmaster
  • Where she lived after 1954, and where she died

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