Idaho mother remembered for being selfless, loving after her unexpected death
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LEWISTON — An Idaho mother who died while caring for her NICU baby is being remembered for living a life full of giving.
Sharyn Marketti, of Lewiston, died on Sept. 28, 2026, at the age of 32. She was in Spokane, Washington, where she’d been staying in the Ronald McDonald house while her 3-month old daughter — who was born around 27 weeks — remained in the NICU.
Marketti’s sister, Natalie Larimer, told EastIdahoNews.com that her sister stayed in Spokane full time with her daughter while her husband, Jason, a Lewiston police officer, stayed home with their two sons. He’d travel back and forth on the weekends to visit his wife and daughter at the hospital.
After Jason couldn’t get a hold of Marketti last Monday night, he called for a welfare check, and that’s when it was discovered Marketti had passed away.
“She went into a diabetic coma, and nobody was around,” Larimer said. “She was a diabetic since she was like 6 … she had an insulin pump and a glucose monitor. … But it looks like she took too much insulin and when they found her, her last blood glucose was low.”
Larimer said Marketti is the third of eight siblings, and they always called her their “big little sister” because she was only about 5 feet tall. She said diabetes had stunted her growth.
“Being one of the oldest, she would take care of all of her younger siblings, and she loved to do it,” Larimer said. “One time (when we were younger), she and I went to the mall, and she blew like $300 on stuff for us. And $300 isn’t a whole ton, but for somebody working at Dairy Queen at 16 or 17 (like she was), that was a big thing for her.”
Marketti and her husband had been married for seven years. Before she had her daughter, she had worked as an insurance agent.
In her free time, Larimer said her sister enjoyed painting and serving others.
“She was very giving,” Larimer mentioned. “I know everybody says that about their loved ones, but she genuinely, out of my siblings and I, we’ve talked a lot about it and said, ‘Why did the purest one out of all of us have to go?'”
A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family with funeral costs and other urgent expenses. To donate, click here.
Our attorneys tell us we need to put this disclaimer in stories involving fundraisers: EastIdahoNews.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries.