Sharon Reynolds Maxwell papers

Sharon Lee Reynolds Maxwell was born March 2, 1939 in Taft, California to Theodore Roosevelt Reynolds and Adelaide Velma Johnson Reynolds. She attended the University of Arizona from 1957-1966, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in English-Education with a minor in Library Science. She completed a Master of Arts degree in English as a Second Language at the University of Arizona in 1969. She had two children, Maurynne Ruth Maxwell, born in 1958, and Edward Stuart Maxwell, born in 1960.

Sharon Maxwell worked as an assistant cataloger for Tucson Public Schools from 1966-1968. From 1968-1972, she worked as a substitute teacher and librarian, and a GED/ESL instructor for Tucson Public Schools, Pima County Adult Education (1970-1972), and as a teaching assistant at the University Arizona (1969-1970). In 1972 Ms. Maxwell became a training advisor for the Tucson Model Cities Program. The Model Cities Program was an element of U.S. President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and War on Poverty. In 1966, new legislation led to the more than 150 five-year-long, Model Cities experiments to develop new antipoverty programs and alternative forms of municipal government. The program's initial goals emphasized comprehensive planning, involving not just rebuilding but also rehabilitation, social service delivery, and citizen participation. In 1978, Sharon Maxwell became the Citizen Participation Systems director for the City of Tucson, Arizona.

Sharon Maxwell was a member of the Pima area advisory group Health Systems Agency Southern Arizona from 1978-1980, a member of the governing body, 1979-1984, and a member of the advisory committee for the Community Mediation Program from 1985-1987. Her other memberships included Member of Pi Lambda Theta, Executive Women's Council of Southern Arizona, Arizona Education Association, National Association Female Executives, American Association of University Women, and the National Education Association.