Meet the Pastor

Harry G. Sharp, III, the son of Ruth Felker Sharp and the late H. Garwood Sharp, Jr. of Sikeston, was christened in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; grew up in the Methodist Church; and has served in the United Methodist Church. Pastor Sharp was called to be a volunteer in the mission field as a young man. This call has taken him from Korea to Russia, from Haiti to Hayti Heights, from the mountains of Appalachia to the mountains of Costa Rica, and from hurricane ravaged St. Croix to the very interesting Menominee Indians where he has found that people are much the same everywhere. It was this mission focus that let him to be the pastor of Smith Chapel United Methodist Church in 1996.

Graduating from Sikeston High School, Harry attended and earned degrees from Westminster College and Florida State University. He is a Viet Nam Era Veteran of the Army Corps of Engineers, has taught mathematics at Florida State and Spelman College, operated a consulting business in Atlanta, has taught physics at Sikeston and Kelly High Schools, and does consulting with The Sharper System. After two tours in the Army, Harry joined the IBM Corporation in St. Louis where he worked with major corporations such as Southwestern Bell and Mercantile Bank. His twenty-six year IBM career also took him to Washington DC, the New York City area, and Atlanta, Georgia.

Harry met his wife Anita Marie (Liebergesell) in their church in Marietta, Georgia and returned to Sikeston in 1993. His son, Woody, brought his family to Sikeston the following year providing the enjoyment of three grandchildren. Anita's son Tim and daughter Karen live and work in Georgia, and the couple has an "adopted" Russian daughter who has been a part of Sikeston and has hosted Anita and Harry in Russia. They have also had two exchange students from Berlin, Germany.

Anita coordinated 90 volunteers for the Sikeston "Depot" Museum for several years and is now on their board of directors. She also volunteers with local organizations and the Sikeston First United Methodist Church.

Pastor Sharp was the Chair of the Charter Commission for the City of Sikeston, a recent candidate for mayor, past president of the Sikeston Area Ministerial Alliance, a long time volunteer with Bootheel Healthy Start, a board member and officer of the Missouri Bootheel Regional Consortium, and a board member of the Missouri United Methodist Foundation.

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