Cheri Conner Irwin

Cheri will certainly be missed. She had such a bubbly personality. I worked with her at TWRA. One time, about 30 years ago, she called me to come to her office. She was excited about something unusual about to happen. Her son, Matt, was at a phone booth in New York City at Times Square. She had Earthcam on her computer at Times Square and she got to see Matt waving to her beside the phone booth. She was so excited. It was fun for me too. We both also loved flowers and wildlife, so I shared many of my flowers with her, especially my black-eyed Susan's that attracted gold finches. When she moved she asked me for more plants for her new house. Soon she invited me over to watch the masses of gold finches that were in her yard enjoying the flowers. She also talked often about her fish pond. Her pond fish were her pets that she loved. These are small things, but nice memories of a very nice friend.

She was Homecoming Queen in high school. So pretty and so nice! It was nice knowing that she was around. We were high school friends. Floyd Mahaffey

I worked with Cheri for many years at the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. The organization and layout of Tennessee Wildlife magazine was her responsibility for decades during a challenging era as the agency worked to manage an abundance of fish and wildlife, including some that nearly disappeared from Tennessee's landscape--including the bald eagle that now commonly soars above our rivers and lakes. Readers were able to share these experiences through photos and stories published in a magazine beautifully handled by Cheri. She worried constantly about getting every article and photo perfectly placed and the magazine published on schedule. She was also a talented calligrapher among her many artistic talents. Cheri was friendly and thoughtful. Her work will be seen for generations by those who research the history of wildlife restoration, or who enjoy reading about this state's great outdoors across Tennessee.