Sharon Lee Blythe and the Private Family Life Behind a Presidential Connection

A Life That Did Not Center on Washington

Sharon Lee Blythe’s public story is often introduced through Bill Clinton, her paternal half-brother. Her own family remembrance took a different route. It described a long marriage, three sons, grandchildren, and life in Arizona without making the presidency its centerpiece.

I find that choice a useful guide. Sharon was connected to a famous political family, but her documented life was not a political career. She was also known as Sharon L. Pettijohn and Sharon Lee Blythe Pettijohn. At birth, her first name was recorded as Sharron, with two r letters.

She was born on May 11, 1941, in Kansas City, Missouri, to Wanetta Ellen Alexander and William Jefferson Blythe. She died in Tucson on April 24, 2022, at 80. Between those dates lies a family life that briefly attracted national attention in 1993 and then largely returned to privacy.

Parents and a Complicated Surname

Sharon’s parents married on May 3, 1941, eight days before she was born. Her mother’s name appears as Wanetta and Wannetta, with Anita also used in the family’s later remembrance. Her father is generally identified as William Jefferson Blythe Jr.

The numbering attached to his name requires care. Some family descriptions call him William Jefferson Blythe III, while the standard presidential family account uses Jr. for Sharon and Bill’s father and III for Bill’s original name. I treat this as a naming inconsistency concerning the same father, rather than evidence of two different men.

Blythe worked as a traveling heavy equipment salesman. His marriage to Wanetta ended in April 1944. He later died in a car crash on May 17, 1946, three months before Bill Clinton’s birth.

Sharon was almost five when her father died. The details available do not establish how much contact she had with him during her early childhood.

Marriage to Robert Pettijohn

On April 16, 1958, Sharon married Robert G. Pettijohn, also called Bob. She was 16. Their marriage continued for about 60 years, ending with his death in January 2019.

They raised three sons, Thomas, Michael, and Brian, in the Phoenix area. In 1990, the family moved to Tucson. These place names describe broad chapters of their family life rather than a detailed account of homes, schools, or daily routines.

Thomas, also known as Tom, was the son who helped explain the family history when attention arrived in 1993. Michael and Brian are named as family members, but no dependable public career histories for them are established here.

By the time of Sharon’s death, her surviving family included grandson Kenneth and four great-grandchildren. The family details do not establish which son was Kenneth’s father, and the great-grandchildren are not individually named.

The Presidential Connection Emerges

In 1993, Bill Clinton began his presidency. That same year, information about his father’s other children became national news. Henry Leon Ritzenthaler was discussed publicly as a half-brother in June. Sharon’s family connection received attention in August.

The central detail was a birth certificate naming William Jefferson Blythe of Sherman, Texas, as Sharon’s father. Her mother recognized photographs of Clinton’s father as the man she had married. Bob Pettijohn spoke about his mother in law’s certainty, and Tom recounted the family history.

Sharon herself declined to comment. A relative described her as uninterested in publicity and unconcerned about whether the presidential connection was accepted. I would not turn her silence into hostility or make it evidence of a private reconciliation. It establishes a limit on her public participation.

There is no dependable public account here of Sharon meeting or corresponding with Clinton. The family relationship and a personal relationship are different questions. One can be identified without claiming knowledge of the other.

Half Siblings and Earlier Generations

Bill Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas. His mother was Virginia Dell Cassidy. He later took the surname Clinton from his stepfather, Roger Clinton, and served as the 42nd president from 1993 to 2001.

Henry Leon Ritzenthaler was born Henry Leon Blythe in January 1938. He later adopted his stepfather’s surname. He and Sharon shared their father with Bill, making the three paternal half-siblings. Henry died in 2009.

Bill and Hillary Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea, is therefore Sharon’s niece through a half-sibling relationship, more precisely her half-niece. That family connection does not establish a publicly documented bond between them.

Sharon’s paternal grandparents were William Jefferson Blythe Sr., a farmer associated with Sherman, Texas, and Lou Birchie Ayers. Their place in the family tree follows through her father. I keep more distant, uncertain genealogical claims outside this account.

A Timeline of Her Own Life

FAQ

Was Sharon Lee Blythe related to Bill Clinton?

Yes. They shared a father, William Jefferson Blythe, making them paternal half-siblings. A public personal relationship between them is not established here.

Why is her name sometimes spelled Sharron?

Sharron Lee Blythe was the spelling recorded at birth. Sharon and her married surname Pettijohn were used later.

How many children did she have?

Sharon and Robert Pettijohn raised three sons: Thomas, Michael, and Brian. Her later family also included a grandson and four great-grandchildren.

Is her occupation or net worth known?

A dependable occupation, business history, or personal financial figure is not established. Her connection to a president does not supply those missing details.