Sharon Polk Smith was born in Washington, DC and grew up in Arlington, Virginia and Edgartown, Massachusetts. She is the third great niece of President James K. Polk . President Polk and his wife, Sarah Childress Polk, had no children. Sharon is a collateral descendant as she is the third great granddaughter of the President’s brother, Marshall Tate Polk.
Sharon attended the Potomac School in McLean, Virginia and Mount Vernon Seminary in Washington, DC. She graduated from Tel Aviv University in Israel with a degree in Nursing. She has worked in hospitals and refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Washington, DC.
Sharon is retired from nursing and lives in South Carolina with her Thoroughbred mare, Pebbles, and her Westie, Jamie.
