WESTMINSTER - Even when she was dying, Sharon Costello's first concern was people in need.

She and her husband, Bob Costello, went to Romania in June, where they were lay missionaries, helping kids in and just out of orphanages.

"She felt we needed to go, even though I didn't feel she was well enough," Costello said.

She told him, "I know there's a reason God's sending me."

Part of it was a pastor and wife, working with the international organization the Costellos volunteered for. The wife had cancer surgery the year before. It recurred.

"Sharon spent three days caring for her, advising her, talking to her," Costello said. "She was there for her."

Sharon died Aug. 2 of lung cancer. She was 66.

"She never smoked a day in her life," Costello said. "She died at home - in my arms."

She was born April 20, 1941, to Ben and Arlie Sale Scoggins in Lufkin, Texas.

She grew up in Texas. She attended college for two years, studying accounting, before getting married.

She later divorced.

She moved to the Denver area in 1970.

She worked 17 years in data processing at the Denver Rescue Mission. She was also a volunteer at Lutheran hospice as well as the mission. And she became a chaplain at North Suburban Medical Center after her first cancer surgery in 2002.

In 1987, she met Costello at a nightclub. He asked her to dance.

"She was the best dance partner I ever had in my life. I'm a good dancer, and she elevated my dance," said Costello, a heating, air conditioning and ventilation specialist with the Denver Newspaper Agency.

They were married Jan. 28, 1989, in Denver.

She was a calming influence on Costello.

He said he was stomping around one night after hearing a television news report that he disputed. He made an outlandish statement. Sharon brought him back to reality.

"You know," she told him. "That's probably just what Jesus would do about it."

They got involved in Heart 2 Heart through the Denver Rescue Mission in 2001.

Sharon went to Romania, first by herself, but was reluctant to go initially. She told Costello: "I can't do anything in Romania. I'm an old woman. I can't do anything."

"Someone told her, 'We need someone to rock babies,' " Costello said.

She figured she could do that.

"When she got done, she said, 'I'm going to be coming back.' She just talked about it," Costello said. "I figured I'd go over there to make her happy. Within five minutes, my heart was changed."

Their last trip in June was a good one all around. "We got to say goodbye to some of the kids we met the first time there," he said. "We got so much more out of it than what we gave."

In addition to her husband, she is survived by two sons, Bryan Baker, of Loveland, and Stuart Baker, of Firestone; two daughters, Heather Metroka, of Rydall, Ga., and Kirsten Padilla, of Denver; two sisters, Vickey Haverman, of Baytown, Texas, and Sharla Evans, of Houston; and 12 grandchildren.

Donations: Heart 2 Heart International, P.O. Box 1832, Ramona, CA 92065

Massarog@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5271.

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