MA SPANKY

Sharon Shanky Hering, also known as “Ma Spanky” (it’s a long story!), was born in Portland in 1948 and still lives in the house where her dad grew up. Of Irish descent (her great-grandparents came from County Cork), Sharon went to Madison High School and took a job with the phone company soon after. She started as an operator and worked her way up to manager of central office operations, retiring in 2007. She has three sons, two of whom are identical twins.

Since her mother hated cooking, Sharon started cooking when she was ten, mainly for survival. She would stay at her grandparents’ house every weekend and loved the cookies and banana bread her grandfather baked for her religiously. When she got out on her own, Sharon was happy to experiment with new recipes and dishes, and she took lots of cooking classes. Her favorite was with Jimella Lucas and Nanci Main (owners of the Ark Restaurant on Long Beach Peninsula).
Sharon loves trying different foods, making it a point to eat regionally when traveling. When home, it’s soups and salads, Ma Spanky likes to make most (and has even placed in a contest or two!).

Ma Spanky absolutely loves all holidays and decorates her entire house as well as herself in head-to-toe holiday décor. At Christmas, she clears away anything not bolted down (even pictures come off the walls) and transforms her entire house
into a winter wonderland. There are display cabinets with Santas, one with snowmen, and another with villages, among
others. Be it Halloween, Christmas, or St. Patrick’s Day, Ma Spanky opens her house and serves food appropriate for the holiday (she laments her green mashed potatoes didn’t go over well on St. Patty’s Day). Because Ma Spanky loves to feed people, she started a catering business called Edesia’s Savory Bites (named after the Roman goddess of the feast). She is absolutely delighted to be our mother this month, just thinking about how many people she’s feeding vicariously through her special menu!