Sharon Lubinski - A remarkable woman who blazed trails and held an unwavering passion for the natural world.

2016 Bird watching in Green Valley, AZ

In 2024, the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust received a donation in memory of Sharon Lubinski, an incredible woman who grew up in a small town in Wisconsin and had a passion for the outdoors. She had an extensive career in law enforcement and made history as the first woman and openly gay U.S. Marshal for the state of Minnesota. Her compassion for others and dedication to public service are a thoughtful reminder of the positive impact she had on the community. This is her story as told by her wife, Fran Kiesling.

I want to introduce you to a strong, unique woman, Sharon Lubinski. It is spring as I write this and the red-winged blackbirds are returning to our yard, males flashing red and yellow epaulets. One of Sharon’s favorite birds, every spring she listened for the sound of their trilling calls. It is hard for me to believe she has been gone for over a year. When I met Sharon more than 40 years ago, she was a deputy sheriff for the Dane County Sheriff’s Office in Madison, Wisconsin. An early memory is her admission to me she sometimes used the side spotlight on her squad car to scan farm fields for wildlife during night shifts. Immediately, I recognized a kindred spirit, a true lover of the natural world.

Always open to opportunity and willing to accept a challenge Sharon advanced through the Sheriff’s department moving from Traffic, to Deputy Sheriff, to the rank of Detective in sensitive crimes, where I first met her in my capacity as a social worker helping crime victims. Eventually she wanted to experience urban policing in a larger metropolitan area so we moved together to Minnesota. I took a new social work position and Sharon joined the Minneapolis Police Department, graduating from the police academy in 1986. Lateral transfers were rare at that time, Sharon had to start over going from detective in Wisconsin back to the police academy in Minnesota.

The Minneapolis Police Department, graduation from the police academy in 1986.

Over 23 years she advanced through the ranks displaying leadership, determination, and bravery. One memory is her description of being the incident commander for Minneapolis PD at the scene of the 35W bridge collapse. Sharon, like dozens of other first responders, went quickly to provide help in a terrible situation of fires, explosions, fear, and death. The U.S. Senate later issued a commendation for the work done that day to save lives. Ultimately, Sharon advanced to the position of Assistant Chief of Police for Minneapolis. After leaving the Minneapolis department she finished her career as the US Marshal for the jurisdiction of Minnesota, a position not previously held by a woman. Through the years of knowing one another we became friends, life partners and ultimately spouses in a decades-long loving relationship focused in large part on enjoying the natural world. For example, Sharon loved astronomy and once surprised me with tickets to Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, on the Tohono O’odham Nation. How thrilling to see Saturn!

Sharon was especially devoted to birds, having grown up with a parakeet named ‘Peepers,’ an adored free-flying family pet. We supported avian conservation worldwide, but except for Canada our travels focused on parks all over the United States. Sharon had a special affinity for cranes of all species and we supported the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo Wisconsin. Sharon kept species lists of exciting bird observations such as the time we hiked into Garden Canyon at Fort Huachuca, an Army base in Arizona, to see and hear the male Elegant Trogon. It was a breathtaking experience. However, the behavior of birds most interested her. From raven antics in the snow around Ely, Minnesota to Condor fledglings trying to master flight in the Grand Canyon Sharon was intrigued by avian thinking. Even while bird feeding at home she noticed some of our visiting crows were not tame but uncharacteristically unafraid of people. The dominant male routinely solicited food, followed us around the yard or down the street. The birds came quite close if our backs were turned. Frequently one or the other of us would slip and call the crows people— ‘the people are here’—reflective I think of the bond we recognized went on amongst us, noticing the birds appeared to experience emotion.

Sharon enjoying the snow of a Midwest winter.

At her memorial service last year people spoke of Sharon with remarkably similar descriptors, such as capable, dependable, strong in character, approachable, a good listener, respectful, loving, and kind. After listening for years to Lubinski family stories about Sharon I believe many of her adult personality traits and values began to develop in response to her childhood experiences like playing with kids from other families, spending lots of time outdoors with friends or by herself, engaging with animals, participating in sports, and joining her family for hunting and fishing outings.

Growing up in a small Wisconsin town in the 1950s and 1960s Sharon’s positive regard for both people and the natural world was nurtured by the love and security provided by parents, neighbors, siblings, and friends. In those days it was common for kids to play outside in the neighborhood for hours in summer and winter. So, Sharon was exposed not only to nature but also to other caring adults who provided a kind of parenting to the passel of kids who biked and played around the neighborhood, offering them encouragement, fun, and sometimes correction. Perhaps these early experiences helped her learn how to get along with other people and to understand that kindness facilitated connection. Sharon’s mom Virginia was very kind and anyone getting to know Sharon felt that kindness. Much later in life, a law enforcement colleague described Sharon to me as ‘down to her bones kind.’

Sharon's father, Tony & the kids on the lake shore (WI or MI lake), fishing 1957-1959

Throughout her life Sharon extended kindness to animals, domestic and wild, trying to relate to them. She spent much of her free time outdoors and in her case often alone, especially in what she referred to as ‘the woods’ near her home. I imagine her there, alone in a woodlot or some other place where she liked to play, drawn towards the animals and the sunlight, feeling the breezes; curious and not afraid, full of wonder rather than indifference, excited and enamored of what she saw and felt. I think Sharon’s independence, courage, and self-reliance developed in part from those early forays into the natural world. Her willingness to reach out to animals and recognize what she had in common with them, enhanced some of her interpersonal skills including understanding and empathy. A measure of empathy that in adulthood bloomed, making it easier for crime victims and others in distress to talk with her.

Deer and grouse hunting, a family tradition.

A hard-working guy her father Tony introduced all his children, both boys and girls, to hunting, fishing and sports. Family photos show happy kids fishing on lakes in summer and hunting in cornfields with Dad in winter. Like her dad Sharon enjoyed boating (she really liked driving my dad’s pontoon boat), was always comfortable with guns, and continued to hunt deer.

Official Little League photo-dad Tony, bottom row left, was official coach, Sharon to his left in her bat boy uniform, her older brother Travis and her cousin also seated on the ground -1961, Sharon was 9 yrs old.

As for sports, Sharon played pick-up football, baseball, and golf in backyard games starting at a young age but as a grown-up preferred to play golf but watch football and baseball. When Sharon was a kid, her dad coached a Little League ball team and while rules of the day prevented girls from playing ball, Tony made her a bat girl, a team member, and gave her an official uniform. Perhaps this experience spurred the development of one of Sharon’s most important core beliefs: do not dwell on what you cannot change, find another way.  Family tells it that she moved on, “tucking her hair up under her hat and playing” alongside her brother Travis and the other boys. I suspect, however, the experience also strengthened her sense of determination and her desire to achieve. Regardless, sports with its focus on team cohesion and cooperation no doubt helped Sharon learn about getting along with others in a group, when to ‘belong’ and when to be true to oneself, how to meet expectations for performance, and how to graciously accept both winning and losing. Learning these skills must have served her well as an emergency medical technician, an ambulance driver for neo-natal patients, and a law enforcement officer.

Sharon touched the lives of many people. She was a remarkable woman by all accounts, wherever she went she was well-regarded. In the words of her best friend Sharon’s personal creed included not disparaging or judging people, instead recognizing their potential, and letting them become better people. As Trina said, “she had the effect of making each of us want to be our best self, our most ethical, reliable and non-judgmental self.” Sharon passed on many of her life lessons to others by being a living example: focus on what matters; believe that seeing others at their worst life moments helps a person develop empathy; work to be the best person possible; master all that is attempted; demonstrate poise under pressure; get things done; revel in nature and the commonality humans have with all life; love deeply; be true to yourself even when mainstream society isn’t with you; dream big and plot a pathway to get there.

Sharon was committed to law enforcement as public service and strove to be of use, to help others, and to enhance understanding between people. She worked to improve communication and service provision between law enforcement and the various communities served by the agencies. While not a practicing Buddhist Sharon’s adherence to Buddhist principles informed both her policing career and her personal life. After her death, in a small book authored by the Dalai Lama I knew she kept with her, I found several passages underlined, among them:

*All great teachings are founded on the motivation to help our fellow humans;

*Practice compassion and tolerance;

*Without justice and truth there would be no basis for human hope.

Sharon and Fran enjoy a dog sled adventure.

Her commitment to these words is reflected in her lifelong efforts to deepen her personal character. A favorite volume, The Road to Character, by David Brooks, was a well-worn book on her shelf. Yet, thinking back over all the years I knew Sharon, I remain in awe of her ability to be happy and to feel a sense of wonder, despite all the violence and suffering she saw in her law enforcement work.

Finally, there is no greater complement to Sharon than the words spoken at her memorial service by Tim Dolan, the Chief of Police for Minneapolis when Sharon was the Assistant Chief: “I’ve met and known some excellent law enforcement professionals from around the world. I can say to her now, and regret I did not tell her this personally, ‘Sharon—I salute you. You were, and always will be one of the best’.”

Fran Kiesling