VERA SHERRILL

1920 ~ 2010

Vera Sherrill, shining light and loving heart, passed away in Turlock on November 11 after a short illness.

Born April 3, 1920 in Ingram, Texas, Vera attended high school in Kerrville and college at Mary Hardin Baylor University. She began her teaching career at the age of 20, specializing in English literature and Spanish. At the outset of war, she went to Washington, D.C., to serve on the "Home Front" as a secretary for the Navy Department.

During the last weeks of the war, she married her Rocksprings cowboy, Mack Sherrill, who was beginning a career in the Air Force. After the birth of the first of three sons, the new family was off on service-related odyssey - to California, Japan, Arizona, Oklahoma, and back to California, where they settled in Atwater/Winton. Vera resumed her teaching career in Merced County schools, serving as a substitute teacher for ten years.

Upon "real" retirement, Vera and Mack spent more than two decades traveling throughout the west in a motor home - between spells at home, gardening, grandparenting, and re-reading her favorite books. In 1997, the couple moved to Covenant Village in Turlock, where Vera's beloved husband Mack passed away in 2003.

Throughout her 90 years, Vera loved those around her, and was loved deeply in return. Vera will be dearly missed, but will live on in the memories of her three sons, Carl, Glenn, and Scott; her grandsons, Paul, Ben, and Mackenzie; her brother Doyle; and many other family members and friends.

The funeral will be at 11:00 on Thursday, December 23. After the service, there will be a brief celebration of Vera's life, followed by a light luncheon in the parish hall.