One of the world’s greatest and unknown hot sauce aficionados, John Erbin Sharp, passed away on November 21, 2015. He died at home with his wife, children, dogs and a strong belief that mandatory seat belt laws were a violation of his human rights.

John was born in Taylor, Texas on January 6, 1935 at home, the only child of James and Ida Maude Sharp. His dramatic entrance into the world was marked by a direct father to anemic newborn son blood transfusion, which “pinked” him right up. He grew up in the idyllic Texas town of Bastrop, where he formed firm ideas about cowboy boots, the importance of bacon at breakfast, and pickled okra. In 1960 he asked fellow University of Texas student Kathleen Marx to marry him and, against her better judgement and initial resistance to the ridiculous idea, she said yes. Therein followed 55 years of wedded life that produced 4 loud and opinionated children: Lance, Theresa, John and Moira, and included a never ending parade of pets from throughout the domestic animal kingdom.

He was a lover of linguine frutti di mare, cracked red pepper, extremely large pickle slices on his sandwiches as well as the Encore Westerns channel and dachshunds. He was firm in his beliefs that Tom Baker was the best Dr. Who and a good nap could solve most problems.

He had many weaknesses; his love of smart-mouthed women, particularly the red-headed ones, probably being the worst. His mother (redhead), his wife (redhead) and his two daughters (redheads) gave him much enjoyment and caused him much consternation over the years.

John was a proud U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force veteran who served in South Korea,Germany, Florida, and Washington state. He taught criminal justice for almost 30 years at Houston Community College where he served as department head. John had a strict rule in his classrooms demanding the removal of hats while attending his lectures. However, he did allow females to wear ball caps as he understood that “sometimes the ladies have bad hair days.”

He retired from teaching in 2002 and took up the intellectual burden of a careful study regarding the breakfast food offerings in the League City Area. He found that the Waffle House and Kelley’s Country Cookin’ both served veggie omelets and hash browns made to his liking and, as such, became a great patron of their services. John also traveled a great deal with Kathleen in retirement and took the opportunity to visit his seven grandchildren more often.

Above all else John was thankful for the many gifts God had given him, including a firm belief in God and His mercy, and for John’s family, friends and devoted pets. The family will celebrate John’s life at a memorial funeral mass at St Mary of the Expectation Church in League City on Monday, December 21,2015 at 10:00 am.