Sitting calmly in the Code 7 Café of the
DPS headquarters building, Sharon
Knutson-Felix reflects on the autobiography
she published earlier this year.
“It was worth the tears, for what I hope
that it will bring to other people and the help
that it might provide them,” she says.
With every hardship in life there is pain
but also the opportunity to embrace everything
that has happened and use it to become
a stronger person.
The holiday season has arrived and for
all the joy it brings people there are always
those who feel pain because of what they
have lost.
Earlier this year, Sharon, who serves as
director of the 100 Club and is wife of DPS
Deputy Director David Felix, published her
autobiography titled “Gifts My Father Gave
Me,” with the hope that it could serve as a
comforting tool to those who have suffered
significant loss.
Heartbreak and tragedy provide the basis
for the tale but it is the overwhelming
resolve to overcome, forgive and love that
truly embodies what Sharon has written.
“In giving back, that’s how you find your
feeling and strength. You have to take tragedies
and use those experiences to become
a better person,” Sharon said.
Sharon drew her main inspiration to write
the book from organizing and working the
DPS Family Education Day for family members
of new officers.
This orientation helps educate families
on the effects that a law enforcement career
could potentially have on the family.
At this event, Sharon would share her
stories of loss and perseverance to live on.
Years of telling stories and witnessing the
impact her words had on her listeners gave
Sharon the idea to put her life story down on
paper.
She said, “In writing this book, I just
wanted to give back to the agency and public
safety as a whole and provide comfort for
those who have had loss.”
The actual process of writing the book
started after Sharon visited ground zero after
the attacks of Sept. 11. After listening to
part of her story, a friend encouraged her to
seek out the help of Allen Kates, a writing
coach who wrote the book, “Copshock.”
Sharon said, “I never dreamed of working
with him on a book really or anything.”
The two met, after Kates had emailed
Sharon about making a contribution to the
100 Club, and Sharon asked if Kates would
be willing to review some
of the writing she had
done about her life. He
agreed but his initial
comments were not quite
what Sharon expected.
She said, “So I had to pay him to review
what I had written and it was really sad. He
practically made me cry because he sent it
back to me with about five pages of comments
about my writing being horrible.”
But learning experience aside, Kates
agreed to be Sharon’s ghost writer over the
entire process.
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The book is dedicated to Sharon’s son
Ricky, who was killed in a car accident at the
age of six, and her deceased husband, Doug
Knutson, a DPS officer killed in the line of
duty.
But Sharon also wrote the book for her
father.
“I really wrote the book for my dad and
I kind of just wanted my kids to know about
their grandpa and to know about their mom’s
life growing up,” she said.
That process, however, meant 8 months
of weekly trips to Tucson where Sharon
would talk into a tape recorder for hours at a
time.
She said, “I had to tell about 50 years
practically and a lot of things I was talking
about were some hard times in my life so,
sometimes, I would go home so wiped out.”
She added there were times where the
drive home was difficult because she was
blinded by tears.
In the end, however, the process paid
off.
Sharon said, “I got some national endorsements
and just had an overwhelming
positive reception about the book and how
it helps people who’ve had losses or have
made people appreciate the family or given
people hope in their life and encouraged
them.”
All money earned from book sales will
be donated to the Central Christian Church
of the East Valley to help build its south campus.
Sharon and Kates also sent the
book to playwrights. The odds are
slim that the story will ever actually
end up becoming a movie, but
Sharon said that some have shown
interest in writing the book for
screen.
On a closing note, Sharon said,
“It’s already accomplished everything
that I ever wanted it to and
ever dreamed. You know, just that
I got it done and that my dad was
able to read it, that was my biggest
goal.”
Telling her story and helping
others has become her life mission.
She said, “Writing this book has just
been the culmination of that mission.”
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