Sheril Elizabeth Box Townsley

Sheril Townsley, a cherished mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and lifelong companion, passed this life on Monday, November 24, at 6:00 p.m. surrounded by family in Huntsville, Alabama, at the age of 85. Sheril was the youngest of two children born to the late Will C. Box and Lorene Hankins Box. Her father was a lifelong resident of Vernon, Alabama, a well-regarded farmer, banker, and board member of the Lamar County Hospital. Sheril's mother graduated from Montevallo College and was a schoolteacher throughout Alabama, including Lamar County High School to be near her daughters while they were in school.
Sheril met her husband and lifelong companion, Bill Townsley, at the University of Alabama in 1959. After graduation, they married and began a life of partnership and love that spanned 63 years. Shortly after marriage, Sheril and Bill were relocated together to Sagamihara, Japan, where Bill served in the US Army Signal Corps and their first child, Kay Elizabeth, was born. After three years in Japan, they returned stateside to Lake Charles, Louisiana, where their second child, Lisa Carol, was born. In 1969, they settled in Huntsville, AL, where their son, William Mark, was born and their permanent home was made. Sheril and Bill were active members of the Central Church of Christ in downtown Huntsville.
Sheril loved words and loved to write. Whether the daily correspondence to a young cadet away at boot camp just before they married, the intersecting criss-crosses in a puzzle of clues, the steady stream of letters received by her parents while she was on the other side of the world, or a thoughtful note to teachers to thank them for taking care of her children in school, Sheril recorded her life on paper.
Sheril was known for her encyclopedic memory of her experiences and her family ancestry. She anchored these with a carefully curated set of objects she referred to as her "treasures" that surrounded her, each and every piece with an anecdote from a time in the past that remained to her as clear as the present. These memories became history, recited to family, friends and caretakers in her home and around the dinner table, a place that was always full of love and laughter.
Sheril is survived by her three children and their spouses: Kay and Jack Carter, Lisa and Tom Winn, and Mark and Adeline Townsley. She is also survived by her grandchildren: Mackenzie and her husband, Andrew Steele, their son and Sheril's great-grandson, Oscar "Ozzie" Steele, Anna and her husband, Charlie Angel, Nathan and his wife, Lauren Winn, Shelby Winn, Léna Townsley, and Zoé Townsley. In addition to her husband, William C. "Bill" Townsley, Sheril was preceded in death by her sister, Kay Box Sanford.
Visitation will be on Saturday, December 6 from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. at Laughlin Service Funeral Home Chapel. The funeral service will immediately follow at the same location, led by Allen Wright and Andrew Steele. Sheril's final resting place will be next to her husband at Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville, Alabama.