Deadly crash at Reno Air Races: Lemmon Valley woman remembered

Sharon Olthea Stewart was picking up litter in the box seat area in front of National Championship Air Race's grandstand last Friday when a World War II-era airplane nose-dived into the tarmac.
Stewart, 47, of Lemmon Valley, is the only Reno resident so far identified to be among the dead. The crash killed 10 people and injured dozens more. She was working for Sani-Hut Co.
"She couldn't wait to work those five days for the air races," said Jose Luis Cacheux-Ojeda, who goes by Joe. He and Sharon had been together for 35 years and have lived in the Reno area since 1994.
On Monday night, Joe was awaiting the arrival of their four grown sons from Southern California so the family could identify her remains.
"They won't let me see her," he said, because they were not legally married.
Joe said Stewart's supervisor called him Friday night to tell him she had died. He is still not sure where her body is but the family will visit the medical examiner's office today.
"I went to all the hospitals. I looked for her. No one came to me with any (official) information," he said. "I haven't eaten for three or four days."
Friends and neighbors are watching over him. Stewart's supervisor and another Sani-Hut employee brought several boxes of food for the family Monday night. They did not want to be named.
Charlene Summers, of Sparks, said Stewart was her best friend.
"She always laughed. She liked to do things to have fun. She was very outgoing," she said.
Summers said Stewart would usually lay out her clothes the day before the air races began and would get to work an hour early.
"She just loved it. She was where she wanted to be."
Maura Cox, Stewart's next-door neighbor, said she was all smiles when she finished work Thursday and she waived to her Friday morning before going to work.
"She was a sweetheart. She always watched out for my kids while I was at work. She will be missed very much," Cox said.
Stewart and Cacheux-Ojeda planned to get married two years ago but they didn't have the money, Summers said.
Cacheux-Ojeda, who was a construction worker, came down with rheumatoid arthritis in his wrists and legs. Stewart was diagnosed with a severe case of diabetes last year. After that, she was sick much of the time, Summers said .
"She had sort of a tough life," Summers said.
The couple had lived in an older mobile home park in Lemmon Valley for the last five years. Before that, they lived in an studio apartment and in a motel on East Fourth Street.
"He took real good care of Sharon, the best he could," Summers said. "She was his sweet Sharon."
The couple has four grown boys, Joseph, Jason, Andrew and Gabriel. Two daughters, Conchita and Sharon, died in an automobile crash when they were young.