Sister Wanda Leah Catala Sharif

In Loving Memory of WANDA CATALA SHARIF

Wanda Leah Catala Sharif was born August 29, 1953, in Providence, RI, and transitioned on February 14, 2026, in Washington, DC, after a year-long battle with cancer.

Wanda was born to Louis Catala and Beverly Eunice Catala in Providence, RI. Her father, Louis, left the island of Puerto Rico alone at age 13 and found his way to the mainland, eventually becoming a horse trainer on the East Cost race tracks. He settled in Providence, where he met and married Beverly Royster, who was an administrator for the Lippitt Hill Tutorial program at Dr. Martin Luther King Elementary School. Beverly was part of the large extended Royster clan. Wanda was the second of five children, born 11 months after her elder sister, Juana.

Wanda was raised with a bevy of cousins, running between the homes of her eight aunts and uncles. Wanda's mother, Beverly Catala, believed that education was a powerful tool for liberation and enrolled her as the second Black student, and first Black high school graduate, of the Mary C. Wheeler School, a private girls' school in Providence, RI. Wanda, in her early years, was a bright, curious, voracious reader and an exceptional student. She worked in the dietary department of a nursing home associated with Miriam Hospital. She became deeply engaged in the country's political shifts during her teens. She attended civil rights marches and volunteered, going door to door to register people to vote. Because of her Mother's deep connection to Providence and her standing as a community leader, Wanda's childhood home on Hope Street was a hotspot fo fellowship and organizing among Black students at Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

At 17, Wanda made perhaps the most monumental decision of her life: to leave Rhode Island and move across the country to attend Spelman College in Atlanta, GA. In 1971, in a city of infinite possibility, Wanda found her voice, her faith, and her purpose. 

During her freshman year, Wanda lived in the basement of Abby Hall with her roommates, Cassandra and Deborah. On a walk back to campus from the new Marta station, she ran into a young, enterprising brother selling fruit and Muhammed Speaks newspapers on Lee Street. Bro. Curtis 3X walked the ladies back to campus and talked to them about the community building, education, and development happening at Temple #15. He asked for the dorm telephone number so he could return to take Wanda and her friends to the Temple for religious service on Friday. Under the leadership of the Honorable Elijah Muhamad, she found an ecosystem of educated, ambitious people who believed in the inherent value of Black ingenuity. The theories debated by young scholars in her home in Providence were put into practice by the Nation of Islam. She and her roommates embraced Islam and joined the Muslim Girls Training Program. Wanda began volunteering at the recently formed University of Islam, an independent primary and secondary school. In the classroom, Wanda found her calling as a natural an gifted educator. Wanda taught middle school students part-time while she finished her degree at Spelman. She was guided by her passion for watching the light of self-worth, curiosity, joy, and possibility turn on in a young person.

The summer before her senior year of college, Wanda married the young Brother who had introduced her to the Nation of Islam years earlier. In 1974, Bro. Curtis and Sis. Wanda famously married after having one formal, chaperoned date. She promised her mother she would graduate on time and would not be distracted or deterred by her work for the Nation or by marriage. In May of 1975, Wanda crossed the stage, nine and a half months pregnant, to accept her degree in early childhood education from Spelman College, before going to work full-time for the University of Islam, which would become Sister Clara Muhammed School.

In 1975, Wanda and Curtis, under the leadership of Imam W.D. Muhammad, took their shahadah and joined the global Sunni Muslim community. With their new baby, Wallace Dawud, in tow, they took on the surname Sharif (meaning Noble and Honorable),  chosen with great intention, as they began to design the life they would commit to building together over the next 50 years. 

As a Sunni Muslim, Wanda embraced the universal truths of the oneness of God, the obligation of each of us to honor and uplift the humanity of all people, and the responsibility to fulfill one's human potential through a life of service to the communities one touches. She believed education was the epicenter of understanding, cultivating, and fulfilling both personal and communal promise. In 1980, Wanda was a teacher during the relaunch of Sister Clara Muhammed Schools in Atlanta. Upon moving to Dallas, Texas, in 1983 Wanda founded a new Sister Clara Muhammed School in association with the Dallas Masjid of Al-Islam, under the leadership of Imam Yahya Abdullah. Now a mother of four, launching a new school and serving as both principal and middle school teacher was a labor of love. As her family grew, Wanda's principal's office housed a crib for her fifth and youngest child, Faridah Nasim Sharif, born in 1986, who came to work with her every day. Wanda famously put bells on Faridah's shoes so she could track her escapades as she toddled throughout the building in her walker. The Dallas years were full and fruitful, with six to seven days a week spent at the Masjid, establishing a community life focused on spiritual development, social justice, economic empowerment, and active, civic-minded participation in American society.

Socially, Wanda loved the Islamic Inspirators and time with her closest girlfriends. She would host sister sleepovers on weekends when her husband was traveling for work. These parties were places for women to unwind, let their hair down, share challenges, and coach each other toward triumphs. They were known to throw down in a mean game of limbo and cut-throat karaoke competitions. Wanda was a fierce champion of women, believing in the Quranic teaching that the health and progress of a community depends on the vision, heart, education, and support of its women. She sat on the Majlis Shura board of the Mosque and was a vocal advocate for women and children in the community.

Wanda's children and her family were the absolute center of her heart. She poured into her children, encouraging them to embrace new challenges and experiences with open curiosity and imploring them to pursue all of their hearts' ambitions. She was intentional in al  things, requiring her children to be readers and critical thinkers, to embrace sports, to be comfortable with public speaking, and to play musical instruments. Wanda believed discipline, adversity, and creativity were essential to human development. Her days were spent teaching, followed by a round robin of drop-offs and pick-ups for a slew of extracurricular activities. Family dinner were raucous affairs, with ideas debated from politics to religion to the merits of art, from classic literature to comic books. Indeed, the formal dining room in each of her homes was surrounded by floor-to-ceiling bookcases. 

In the late 1980's, the Sharif family relocated to Houston, Texas. Wanda became the director of La Petite Academy and went back to school at night to earn certification to teach in the Texas public school system. Weekends were spent driving the hour across town so that her children could continue their spiritual development and community life at the Houston Masjid of Al-Islam. Wanda became a volunteer teacher at the masjid's weekend school.

She joined Salyers Elementary in Spring, Texas, as an early childhood education teacher and curriculum specialist. She taught at Salyers for 25 years, serving as a master teacher and department chair. Wanda believed in every student's potential and was a fearless advocate for the children who would otherwise slip through the cracks. She had a reputation for welcoming the most challenging students into her classroom and, year after year, helping them find their passion, purpose, and potential. She was profoundly dedicated to challenging the bias in our public school system and ensuring that students received access to the best possible resources and education, regardless of race or socio-economic background.

in Houston, Wanda joined Jack & Jill of America Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to nurturing future African American leaders by strengthening children through leadership development, volunteer service, philanthropic giving, and civic duty. Wanda was a tireless leader in the organization for twenty years, holding a number of offices, including multiple tenures as Program Director. As PD, she created curriculum for Pre-K through high school across five core program areas: Cultural Awareness, Educational Development, Health, Civic/Legislative, and Social/Recreational. She launched award-winning Black History Month programming and helped the North Houston Suburban Chapter reach five-star status.

A dedicated Nana, Wanda would take all of her grandchildren every summer to Texas and then road-trip cross-country to spend time with her beloved family in Providence, RI. Ever the teacher, summer breaks consisted of "Nana School," where she taught each of her grandchildren to read and worked on their readiness for the next year's curriculum. Those long summer days included hours in the pool or on the beach, bike rides to the Riverside Park for outdoor concerts, Dels frozen lemonades, sprinkler parties, and halal smores around the fire pit.  

The family would descend on Martha's Vineyard at the end of the summer for kayaking, bridge jumping, surfing, kite flying, lobsters, and Mad Martha's ice cream. 

No summer was complete without Wanda going to visit and shop at her favorite island store, C'est La Vie. At the end of the summer, her five kids would come to collect their children and prepare for the new school year. Wanda also made a point of personally assessing and recommending each of her grandchildren's schools.

In retirement, never one to sit down for long, Wanda dove into volunteer work and organizing with th e American Legion Women's auxiliary Group, the North Houston Suburban Associates Chapter of jack & Jill of America, an the Lakeside Senior Center, where Wanda taught jewelry making and fellin love with throwing and painting pottery. Wanda was an avid gardener and loved to travel. To support her children's professional ambitions, Wanda took on the title 'the roving Nana' as she traveled the country to spend time with her grandkids, helping with drop-offs and pick-ups during her children's extended business trips. She traveled extensively with her oldest daughter, Hana Sharif, to help her achieve her dreams and she became a fixture on the national theatre scene, doling out love, compassion, and advice as a surrogate mother and grandmother for artists coast to coast.

Wanda leaves behind a loving husband, Curtis Shahid Sharif, five devoted children: Wallace D. Sharif (Sade), Curtis S. Sharif (Lisa), Hana S. Sharif (Marcus), Joseph I.T. Sharif (Dhelice), and Faridah S. Burnett, 11 Grandchildren: Darius (21), Curtis (19), Eli (16), Zahara (15), Nia (13), Benjamin (12), Rose (9), Asha (5), Edison (5), Ethan (3), Siblings: Juana Catala Huguley, Dollie Catala Morgan, Juan Catala, Damian Correia, Nieces and Nephews: Larry, Louis Catala (LC), Jay, Amanda, Simona, Lutisha, Carmella, Louis, Jahyra, Miguel, Manuel, Eboni, Gerard, Beverly BJ, Kevin, Kalicia, Adrian, Shawn, Malik, Jace, Damian, Amani, Thomas, Fr. Curtis (Curt), Toni, Daniel, Ariel, Benjamin (Ben), Kendall, Lauren, 49 great nieces and nephews, 12 great great nieces and nephews, and a host of cousins. 

She was predeceased by her parents, Louis and Beverly Catala; her brother, Louis Catala; and her niece, Sonia Huguley Huddleston.

Wanda Sharif's greatest gift was her rare ability to create family and community wherever she went, inspiring all whose lives she touched to see their own possibilities more brightly.