Eunice Zachary Sherman

1917 - 2016

Eunice Zachary Sherman
December 7, 1917 – September 28, 2016
Eunice Zachary Sherman of Salem, Oregon died September 28th. An engaging and caring educator and community leader, Eunice will long be remembered for developing and supporting early childhood education and good nutrition programs in Idaho, Montana, and Micronesia, and for her love and care for her many high school students.
Eunice was born on a homestead in White Sulphur Springs, Montana on December 7, 1917 to Herb and Clara Fleming. Later, the Flemings moved to Spokane, Washington, Porthill, Idaho, and Whitefish and Eureka, Montana where Herb worked for Border Patrol and Clara taught school. Eunice obtained a scholarship to attend the University of Montana, where she majored in home economics with a minor in chemistry. After graduation, Eunice taught home economics and college-preparatory English.
She and her husband, Wyman Zachary, settled in McCall, Idaho following WWII. With the help of several friends, she spearheaded development of the McCall Cooperative Playgroup. This was the first preschool/kindergarten in that high mountain logging town. It was still thriving when the state, acknowledging the value of early childhood education, incorporated it into a publicly-funded kindergarten program.
Meanwhile, Eunice reared three children, supported numerous civic organizations, taught high school, led a Girl Scout troop and several 4-H clubs, helped start the McCall Dance Club, promoted the Payette Lakes Ski Club, worked to support the building of the town's first hospital, and found ways to bring cultural and educational programs into the mountains of Idaho, long before the advent of grants.
After twenty-five years in McCall, Eunice and Wyman moved to Saipan in the west Pacific. Wyman served as Director for Resource and Economic Development for the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and Eunice helped lead the assault against juvenile malnutrition. She developed the Head Start Program in Micronesia and worked with half a dozen distinct island cultures across 3000 miles of ocean, teaching mothers to use native foods to maximize nutrition, such as eating papaya rather than feeding it to pigs, while minimizing dependence on expensive food imports.
In 1974, the Zacharys moved to Hawaii and eventually returned to the mainland where Wyman died in 1985. Eunice married an old friend, Jack Arnold, formerly of Rexford, Montana, in 1988. They lived in Pine Mountain Lake, California, until he died of a heart attack.
At a Whitefish High School reunion in 1996, Eunice reconnected with Kenneth Sherman, a classmate and longtime friend, who lived in Salem, Oregon. They married January 1, 1997 and traveled the world together for nearly twenty years. They supported neighborhood events, entertained old friends, made new ones at every opportunity, attended lectures and concerts, remained involved in professional societies and book clubs, basked in family events, and danced often. Each summer they returned to reunite with family and friends at Eunice's family cabin on Glen Lake near Eureka, Montana.
Eunice is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Norm and Joan Zachary, who live in Horseshoe Bend, Idaho. Her daughter, Carol Zachary, and her husband, Jon Axelrod, are residents of Washington, DC in the winter and Eureka in the summer. Her youngest daughter, Pamela Zachary-Morneault, resides in White Salmon, Washington with her husband, Michael Morneault. Eunice enjoyed and was a friend to each of her eight grandchildren and delighted in her seven great-grandchildren. She also took great joy in knowing and sharing the lives of Ken's three children, four grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.
Donations in her honor are most appreciated by the Tobacco Valley Board of History to help fund children's history programs in Eureka (TVBH, Box 1452, Eureka, Montana, 59917), the Willamette Valley Hospice (1015 3rd St. NW, Salem, OR, 97304), or any other hospice program of the donor's choice.
A memorial celebration is planned for Sunday, October 9th, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem, 5090 Center St. NE, Salem, at 2:30 p.m.