Biography: Sharon Raney Pallone, age 69, of Rose Bud went to be with her lord and savior Jesus Christ on August 7, 2009 after fighting a life-long battle with Scleroderma. She was born August 8, 1939 in Little Rock to the late Dallas Poe (Pete) Raney and Helen Bradford Raney. Sharon graduated from Central High School in 1957. She attended Randolph Macon University in Ashland, Virginia her freshman year where she pledged Pi Beta Phi. She completed her bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of Arkansas in 1961 and served as president of Pi Beta Phi her senior year. She went on to obtain her master’s degree in psychology from Mississippi Southern University. While working in Little Rock at the family business, T.J Raney & Sons, she met Sam Pallone who she married in 1963. They were married for 14 years and had two sons. Although diagnosed with Scleroderma in the mid 1960s Sharon was an incredible athlete. She won many golf and tennis tournaments over the country in the 1960s and was an avid horseman all of her life. In 1971, in a Little Rock pharmacy, Sharon met a young mother with a small child that was obviously neglected. She learned that the mother was retarded and schizophrenic. In her attempt to find help for this woman and her child Sharon discovered that there were no services or organizations that truly provided help for an abusive parent and their children. At that time the traditional approach to child abuse focused completely on the child and ignored the parent. The only solution the officials seemed to offer was to take the child away and put the mother back on the streets. As she advocated for the mother she met a doctor who was very interested in child abuse. He asked her to start a group that would help people who abuse their children. Never being a woman that shied away from fighting for a good cause Sharon founded SCAN (Suspected Child Abuse & Neglect). She trained 6 volunteers in the techniques that she and the doctor had been using with the mother with the basic idea that child abuse could be addressed by treating the abusive parent. She built up the service which eventually obtained state funding and opened 23 offices in Arkansas and 10 offices in other states. SCAN training was conducted in 25 states. She worked tirelessly with the Arkansas legislature to maintain funding for SCAN and was very instrumental in getting many child protection laws passed. For her dedication to abused children she was awarded an honorary doctorate of humanities from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1976. In 1984 she co-authored a book with Dr. Lois Malkemes titled “Helping Parents that Abuse Their Children”. The book was a compilation of the successful techniques used by SCAN in treating abusive parents. The book has been used for training social services personnel throughout the country. Sharon retired from SCAN in 1998 and SCAN’s services were transferred to the Department of Human Services in 2000, ending SCAN as she had built it. However this was not the end of her good works. She then became very involved in the international prison ministry Kairos. She served on Kairos’ state board of directors from 1995 to 2005 serving four years as chairman. She also served as the official liaison between the prison administration and Kairos. In 2000 she earned her CRA (Certified Religious Assistant) certification and worked at the McPherson Women’s Unit in Newport. Although almost crippled with the effects of Scleroderma, Sharon would drive over 60 miles from her home in Rose Bud to Newport every Friday to minister to the women inmates. She cherished the opportunity to mentor the inmates and considered them her personal friends. Sharon’s accomplishments were acknowledged by two sitting presidents. In 1977 she was named one of the Top 10 American Women by Who’s Who and was honored personally by President Gerald Ford. In 1991 Sharon was awarded the designation as a “Point of Light” by then President George Bush and honored personally by the president in Washington D.C. In 1984, as a single mother, Sharon moved with her two sons to a 640 acre cattle ranch in Rose Bud, Arkansas, where she personally built a large herd of commercial and registered cattle in addition to a menagerie of goats, chickens, and horses. Sharon was a dedicated disciple of Saint Francis. No animal (or person) no matter how ugly or maligned escaped her love. She refused to allow even skunks or coyotes to be harmed on her property because they were one of God’s creatures. The Rose of Sharon Ranch is still in existence today having grown to over 1000 acres and is proudly worked by her two sons. Her love and appreciation for all of God’s creations lead her to develop a passion for photography. Her photos of Arabian horses have been sold world-wide. She especially enjoyed watching sunsets from her hilltop home on the ranch. Without question, Sharon’s greatest pride was her family. She is survived by her two sons, Pete Pallone of Pangburn, Arkansas and Dr. Mike Pallone and wife Dr. Karen Pallone of Rose Bud, Arkansas; grandchildren, Brandi Head, Dallas Pallone, and Colton Pallone; great-grandchild, McKinley Head and many beloved pets. There will be a visitation at Ruebel Funeral Home on Monday, August 10, 2009 from 6 to 8 p.m. Funeral service will be at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 10 a.m., with burial to follow at the Rose of Sharon Ranch in Rosebud, Arkansas. Arrangements by Ruebel Funeral Home, www.ruebelfuneralhome.com. Memorials may be made to the Cleburne County Humane Society, 104 S. 4th St., Heber Springs, AR 72543 or McPherson Chapel Fund, Inc., c/o Norman E. Madden, 2233 Jackson 30, Newport, AR 72112. Sharon was a true humanitarian in every sense of the word, a Christian Solider.