Hope Sheets

If you are reading this, you may have crossed paths with Hope Sheets. Maybe you have
seen her out walking her dog, or walking all around Walmart. You may have run into her
at the Rawhide Coffee Shop, The Proud Cut, Cassie's or Trailhead. Maybe she
groomed your dog. The world was Hope's red carpet.
Hope saw each one she met as special. She had love in her heart for each of you. It did
not matter your looks, age, societal status, hillbilly,cowboy, or aristocrat, she was the
same towards everyone she met, so her friends were from every walk of life. This is her
story in a small nutshell.
Hope Herman was the only child born on August 23, 1936, to Harry Herman, a Russian
Jewish immigrant, and Ruby Foster Herman, born to Irish farmers in the hills of
Amazonia, She was born at Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri.
Little Hope had a giant personality from the start. Her mother used to say, "Ohhh that
Hopie used to tell me "Mama, I don't wanna do it. I dus wanna twy ta do it." As a child,
Hope's best friend was her dog, Joey, which set a precedent for her love for animals for
the rest of her life. Her animals were her people. She found solace in them.
When Hope was ten, her father placed her in a Catholic boarding school for reasons
unknown. Punishment was cruel and humiliating, and she was teased for being a Jew.
After returning home, it became apparent that Hope possessed an extraordinary singing
voice. Her father exposed her to the famous soprano arias and taught many of them to
her. He would bring friends home at night, wake Hope up and order her to sing for them.
Hope's mother, Ruby, who played classical piano, provided her with piano lessons for
two years. She learned to read music well enough to learn songs and develop great
finger technique, but she wanted to play by ear and make her own music her own way.
She fell in love with music, but she was a difficult student.
Hope and her best friend, Barbara Pearl Lambert began attending concerts and
sneaking into jazz clubs as young teens. This inspired Hope to explore modern music.
She began to sing popular songs and listen to jazz singers.
After her father passed, at sixteen, Hope quit school, joined a jazz band and began
touring the country. One night, Lloyd Sheets strolled into a night club and heard this
gorgeous raven-haired beauty sing. Lloyd, a wonderful jazz pianist, organist and clarinet
player himself, downed some liquid courage, sat in with the band and asked that
talented bombshell out. Their love affair and music career began with fireworks.
In January,1957, Hope Herman became Hope Sheets in Sioux St Marie, Michigan in
rainboots and slickers, having pulled two strangers off the street as witnesses. Hope
and Lloyd were not traditional types, but deep down, Hope always wished she had worn
an elegant white dress, married in a church, and had photos to show for it.
As the fireworks continued, four children were born in five years, all while gigging
around the country from east coast to west coast. They toured for nine years appearing
as "Three Men and a Maid", and "the High Hopes". They recorded two records, and
even opened for the great Dizzy Gillespi at the Century Plaza in LA. They appeared with
Julious La Rosa and many other names too numerous to list.
In 1968, Hope developed a tremor in her vocal chords and lost the ability to sing. This
was devastating. The family moved to Wyoming and settled down where she started a
dog grooming business. She groomed for sixty years, enjoying her bond with fellow dog
lovers everywhere.
Although Hope lost her voice, she poured her heart and soul into the mastery of the
piano and vibes. Hope and Lloyd continued their music career locally and regionally,
performing regularly at the Washakie Hotel in Worland, The King's Castle, and Wapiti
Steak house, all in the Cody area. They appeared at Cassie's Supper Club every
Sunday for years, along with their children, Lisa, Lori, Lyle and Teri. After Lloyd's health
declined and Lisa moved away, Hope and Lori continued there as a duo, with Lori's
husband, Larry working as their roady. Hope and Lloyd headlined with several trios
including The Big Three, the Bedford/Sheets Trio, and The Sheets Chapman trio. They
performed all over the region, and regularly at Walkers and The Yellowstone Art
Museum in Billings.
Hope and Lloyd also headlined "The Sheets Family Cavalcade of Stars" including all of
their musical children Lisa, Lyle, Lori, Teri, and two of their many musical grandchildren,
Jessica and Cara. Many times they brought in Larry Munari or Ed Martin on drums. The
group traveled around the region playing community concerts, special events and
benefit concerts.
Hope went solo for several years, playing at the Sunset House Restaurant. She
appeared in many Music Club shows throughout all the years she lived in Cody. Her
final gigs were playing the Senior Center every Thursday, and Trailhead Bar and Grill
and Wood Fired Pizza, owned and operated by her grandson, Nathan Kardos, who
delighted in giving his Gramma Hope a stage. She played every weekend night for
almost four years. Her favorite part of that gig was taking breaks to walk around the
room, connecting with diners and making new friends.
Hope Sheets leaves a cavern that can't be filled, and a musical legacy that endures.
A few years after Hope started grooming dogs, she got this big idea to advertise her
business by performing in the Fourth of July Stampede Parade in Cody. She got busy
designing and sewing her gown. Pink. She also decided to dye her poodle. Pink. She
named her entry "There's Hope for your pooch'. It was an instant hit. People loved
watching her trot and dance on her four-inch platform heels to the beat of Lloyd's
Shoshone River Jazz Band float, which she followed behind. Hope became known as
"The Pink Lady", a Cody icon. People would ask her how she could run in those heels.
She said, "It's nothing to run in heels." She trotted the entire length of Stampede Avenue
in heels until she was eighty-five years old. She did her final Parade on a baby blue VW
convertible. She said it wasn't as fun as running in her heels.
Hope's world had no walls. She was free. A dear friend recently said, "When God
created Hope, He was in an artistic mood." We all laughed, but God almighty, in His
creativity, made each of us special and beautiful. Hope was no exception. For most of
her life, she was characterized by eccentricity, style, bad driving, over the top beauty
and talent, passion, warmth and affection, and just a hint of narcissism. Her grown kids
would tease her as she was leaving all dolled up for an event such as the Buffalo Bill
Birthday Party, by asking her, "Who are you hoping will see you? instead of, "Who are
you hoping to see?" This would incite a mutual belly laugh. She knew it was true. Hope
was no phony. She was genuine. She loved deeply, fought fiercely, and laughed hard.
Romans 5:3,4 We rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces
endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.
In her 89th year, on Palm Sunday at 11:45 AM, Jesus the Good Shepherd left the 99 and
he went after the one and only Hope Sheets and He found her. Joy, peace,
gentleness and love were the fruits, and they flooded her soul. It was miraculous. All
fear was gone. Narcissism melted away. Her family and late Husband's prayers were
answered five and a half years after his passing. Hope passed gently and peacefully
with all her children by her side, on Sunday May 18th. Saved on a Sunday, Passed on a
Sunday, the same time of day at 11:44 AM.
In the end, the love that had always been there was all that remained. That is her
greatest legacy. God, our good, good Father made beauty from ashes.
Our family thanks Lori and Larry Burkart for their tender loving care of our mom and
Grandma in her last three years. Hope is survived by her children Lisa (Greg) Kealey,
Lyle Sheets, Lori (Larry) Burkart, Teri (Bob) Jacobsen, 21 grandchildren, 35 great
grandchildren, Jenny Zinc and Barbara Lambert her life long friends and many more
dear friends.
Hope's Service
Tuesday, May 27th, 2025
Ballard Funeral Home at 1PM
Reception at Trailhead from 3PM-5PM
In lieu of Flowers please send donations to Cornerstone Church in Hope's name for
support of the ministries that Hope loved.
Cornerstone Church
2551 Central Ave
Cody, WY 82414