Project Santa: Matriarch grapples with tragedy after tragedy; ‘I’m so heartbroken’

Since being home, Whitlock has fallen ill and been hospitalized twice more, and the bills have become a burden too overwhelming to bear.

She started her own title business, Title Work by Sharon, shortly after her husband’s death, but COVID-19 has decimated her prospects.

Ron Whitlock was the main provider for the family, but an accidental fire engulfed most of his wrecker business in 2017, burning some of their home as well. The 55-year-old was already suffering from heart failure, and the loss of his business of 29 years left him “devastated,” Whitlock said.

“Two weeks later he had a massive heart attack in my front yard,” she said, reflecting on the 7 minutes it took paramedics to arrive. “It’s hard to do CPR on somebody you love so much.”

Back when she was a single mother of four, Ron was the next-door neighbor who dressed up like Santa for Christmas and brought her kids gifts, and he was the only of her suitors who had interest in getting to know the little ones.

“Everybody else was saying get a babysitter, but he was saying ‘Hey, let’s take the kids to McDonald’s and talk,’” she said.

Ron used to always give big around the holidays because he had the money to give, Whitlock said. If he heard a story about someone in need, he was there.