Share This Article
In a year when Mountain Home celebrated milestones in public safety, historic preservation and community development, one name kept appearing at the center of it all: Sonny Sharp.
The Mountain Home Observer has named Sharp as its 2025 Person of the Year for his extraordinary contributions to the community, including a land donation that made possible the city’s new fire station and his tireless work preserving Baxter County’s history through the local historical society.
Sharp’s most visible contribution in 2025 came in July, when the Mountain Home Fire Department dedicated its new Sharp Family Station 2 on Highway 62 East. The modern, 10,800-square-foot facility exists because Sharp donated the land in October 2020, a gift that set in motion a $4.3 million project funded entirely through local sales tax revenue.
Mayor Hillrey Adams said he initially questioned whether the donated property would work for a fire station.
“Every time Ken and I look at this, we thought, this is nothing but a big hole. We’ll never build,” Adams said, referring to former Fire Chief Ken Williams.
Twenty-two contractors, along with city crews, transformed the site into a state-of-the-art station featuring three apparatus bays, dedicated training areas, four bedrooms for on-duty firefighters, a fitness room and modern kitchen facilities. The station now provides faster emergency response times to Mountain Home’s eastern neighborhoods and commercial districts.
Fire Chief Kris Quick said naming the station after the Sharp family was about more than honoring a generous donor.
“Naming it the Sharp Family Station 2 is more than just about naming it after the person who donated the land, but it’s about honoring the history of Mountain Home,” Quick said at the dedication ceremony.
At the July dedication, Sharp chose to honor his parents, Red Sharp and Margaret Sharp, explaining the family’s deep roots in the community. His grandparents immigrated from Czechoslovakia in 1912, purchasing 160 acres sight unseen from a German-language newspaper advertisement in Chicago.
“They got down here with two small kids. Didn’t speak a word of English,” Sharp told the crowd. “They added three more kids. That was important because one of them grew up to be my mother. Her name was Margaret.”
His father, nicknamed “Booger Red” for his skills as a bronc rider from New Mexico territory, operated the area’s only land-clearing business from the 1940s through the 1960s. His mother Margaret became deeply involved in the community, working with the East Oakland PTA to bring hot lunches and indoor plumbing to the local school and serving as a 4-H leader with the Willing Workers 4-H Club.
While the fire station dedication captured headlines, Sharp’s quieter but equally significant work came through the Baxter County Historical and Genealogical Society. As a longtime board member, Sharp has been one of two people who open and close the Baxter County Historical Museum on Bomber Boulevard each day of operation. He helped assemble and manage the museum’s collections, serves as a regular guest on KTLO’s “Talk of The Town” radio program promoting the society’s work, and has organized numerous fundraising events.
Sharp’s service to history extends back decades. After retiring from federal service in 1995, he helped develop the Rollins Hospital Museum in Gassville, participated in the restoration of historic downtown Cotter, assisted with Cotter’s Fall Festivals and Trout Festivals, and aided in fundraising and construction of the Donald W. Reynolds Library.
As 2025 drew to a close, Sharp announced he would step down from the historical society board, making way for new leadership after helping establish the museum at its current location.
“We got to get new people involved,” Sharp said. “You got to think of the organization more so than your ego.”
He described the museum as a “turnkey operation” ready for the next generation of volunteers.
“As far as the place, it’s a turnkey operation,” Sharp said. “We’ve got the upstairs, downstairs, everything done. It’s ideal now for a new group to come in and take them forward.”
But stepping down from the board does not mean stepping away from the work.
“I’m stepping down, but I’m still going to be out here,” Sharp said. “I told them I’m an entitled volunteer.”
That attitude captures what makes Sharp the Observer’s Person of the Year. Whether donating land for a fire station, unlocking the doors of a museum each morning, or sharing local history on the radio, Sharp has demonstrated that community building is not about recognition but about service.
His family came to Baxter County more than a century ago seeking opportunity. In 2025, Sonny Sharp continued that legacy by giving back to the community that shaped him.
