Congratulations to Cheers Owner Thomas Kershaw and Janet Sharp!

Engagement Announcement

Beacon Hill Times

November 18, 2008

The phone has been ringing off the hook at the Hampshire House, where owner Tom Kershaw is thanking all the well-wishers calling about his big news; Kershaw popped the question to Janet Sharp of Winchester last week.

"We were sitting on my couch one evening. I don't know how the subject came up, and she said yes," said a beaming Kershaw.

Kershaw met Sharp over the summer in Nantucket at a fundraiser for his friend, Councilor Mike Ross. She was there with friends who also knew Ross. Smitten, he asked for her phone number and they ended up going on a date four weeks later. "It's been fast and furious ever since," he said.

The two announced their engagement on November 11. For now, Sharp is sporting a cocktail ring made up of a ruby arranged with diamonds, while they're having her engagement ring custom-made by a local jeweller.

"I purchased a cocktail ring as an interim to show that we are 'engaged'-there are a lot of things you can say, but you have to have something visual," says Kershaw. "It'll be a nice-sized diamond."

Sharp is the mother of two. Her daughter, Elizabeth, is in a post-graduate pre-med program at Columbia University in New York City, and her son is at the University of Vermont. Janet is a graduate of Hamilton College and has been in the real-estate business, is active in many charitable activities, and is an avid tennis player.

Kershaw is the owner of the Hampshire House on Beacon Hill, Cheers and 75 Chestnut, as well as an investor in two suburban restaurants, John Brewer's Tavern of Waltham and John Brewer's Tavern of Malden. Kershaw is a graduate of Swarthmore College and Harvard Business School and has been a resident of Beacon Hill for more than forty years. This year, he will be celebrating forty years of ownership of the Hampshire House property at 84 Beacon Street.

The couple plan to reside on Beacon Hill and in Winchester.

Wedding plans are being finalized and will probably be sometime in the month of May, says Kershaw. They're looking at holding the ceremony at the Church of the Covenant and having a small reception at the Hampshire House.