Shereen Magee Walls King

Shereen Magee Walls King passed away February 9, 2026, at Harbor Grace Hospice in Atlanta, following a stay at Grady Hospital, where she was treated for a severe head injury sustained from a fall in her home. In her 79 years, Sherry lived a life full of aspiration, determination, and deep affection for books, travel, family, and friends.

Sherry was raised in rural Southern Mississippi by her grandmother, Frances Minerva Mills, a cafeteria cook in the local elementary school and the heart and soul of the Mills family. Granny was an unflappable anchor in Sherry’s life, as was the tight-knit family of aunts and cousins who lived nearby and throughout the South. As much as Sherry longed for and treasured her family and the home where all her aunts came together, cooking, smoking cigarettes in the kitchen, and playing 31, there were trying periods: having to depend on their garden and chickens to get by, chopping wood for her grandmother in cold winters, and trying to make a pair of shoes stretch as long as they could.

She developed a close relationship with her half-sister, Sandra, and a bond with her mother, Mary Frances, during visits to Lockport, Louisiana, where they lived. Both later moved to Atlanta after Sherry married Mike Walls and settled there. With Mary’s renowned Cajun culinary skills, they began a Christmas Eve tradition of homemade gumbo and potato salad. Sandy kept up the tradition after their mother passed, but after she also died, Sherry and her own daughter, Erin, agreed they could never make a roux as good as Mary and Sandy had.

Growing up, Sherry knew that education was her key to a future that extended beyond New Augusta, Mississippi. That certainty drove her to become co-valedictorian of her high school class, enabling her to go on to Jones County Junior College and then to William Carey College. It took her to Mobile, Alabama, where she studied medical technology. She worked in laboratories in Mobile, Atlanta, Brooklyn, and Cleveland. Mid-career, she decided to become a lawyer and was accepted to Emory Law School, the only school to which she applied. Despite being the first in her family to attend college and having a five-year-old daughter at home, and after supporting her husband through law school, she determined that she, too, could finish school and practice law. There were times when the rigor of law school compelled her to stay in a motel closer to her classes and away from the noise of the elementary school playground near their house. At those times, her husband and daughter brought her meals and imposed study breaks. Upon graduating, she was recognized by the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers with the Outstanding Woman Lawyer Award.

Sherry’s career as a lawyer began working as a clerk for Federal Judge Hugh Robinson. She then worked at the firm Zussman, Small, and White, handling complex bankruptcy cases. After the Savings and Loan crisis, she worked for the FDIC and then the congressionally funded Resolution Trust Corporation until it dissolved. The remainder of her career was spent at the Georgia Attorney General’s Office in the Commercial Transactions and Litigation Division.

Beginning in the mid-70s, Sherry grew deep roots in the Morningside community of Atlanta. Through networks of the neighborhood babysitting co-op, food co-op, and fellow Atlanta Public School parents, she developed friendships that would endure for the rest of her life. Those friendships were a vital support system through life transitions, illness, and the health and mobility challenges she faced later in life.

Throughout her adulthood, Sherry’s recognition of how far she had come in her own experience compelled her to give back to individuals in the Atlanta community. She tutored and mentored students in APS, cared for babies in the neonatal unit at Grady Hospital, and volunteered at the women’s shelter at First Presbyterian Church. She trained as a Stephen Minister, supporting people experiencing life crises. She was an active member of Morningside Presbyterian Church for many years.

Sherry’s love of travel was constant throughout her life. With her first husband, she traveled out West in their VW bus and left the country for the first time. When their daughter, Erin, was growing up, the three of them traveled to Europe and the Caribbean. When Erin moved to New York as a teenager, Sherry visited regularly and saw as much theater as she could while she was there. Later, she and Erin traveled together to Spain, Nicaragua, and Mexico. She visited Italy with her beloved cousin, Beverly, and vacationed at the lake and the beach with her dear friends from her book club.

In 2009, a mutual friend introduced Sherry to Mike King, a journalist who had recently been widowed. It was a match, Sherry with her fascinating backstory and Mike yearning to help her complete it.

The first stop on their new journey together was a month in Ireland on the Ring of Kerry.

After they married, and especially after Sherry retired, they traveled extensively. First came a honeymoon in Jamaica, then a month in Italy, staying in Rome, the Amalfi Coast, and Sicily. There was a long car trip around the coast of Florida, where they fell in love with Siesta Key, a place they would return to frequently during the winter. The next year brought a trip to Prague and a Danube River cruise.

In 2015, Sherry survived breast cancer surgery, radiation, and intensive chemotherapy. To celebrate, they traveled to St. John in the Virgin Islands. They also visited the California coast, another first for her.

Their last major trip was another river cruise, this one along the Rhône from Lyon through the south of France, with an extended stay on the Riviera.

Sherry was granted her oft-spoken wishes when her daughter moved back to Atlanta and when her grandchildren came into the world. She cherished spending time with her grandson, Jack, and granddaughter, Fiona. Through vacations with her family and step-family, holidays and regular family dinners, and hours spent keeping company with close friends, Sherry supported and was supported by bonds of care, endless conversation, wanted and unwanted candor, snacks, wine, books, and love with the kin she created in her adopted home of Atlanta.

Shereen Walls King is survived by her daughter, Erin McFall; son-in-law, Joe McFall; grandchildren Jack, 14, and Fiona, 9; her husband of 15 years, Mike King; her stepchildren, Katie King of Pensacola, Florida, and Patrick King of Smyrna; her former husband, Mike Walls of Atlanta; and countless cousins in Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama.

A celebration of her life will be held in Atlanta on March 21, 2026. Visit shereenwallskingmemorial.rsvpify.com for details. A service in New Augusta will be held later this year. The Cremation Society of Georgia will post updated information on its website. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Atlanta Partners for Education.