Sherri Lynn Kessel

Sherri Lynn Kessel, 70, resident of Howell, passed away on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 in Ann Arbor, MI.
Visitation will be held on Saturday, January 28, 2023 from 11:00 am until 1:00 pm at Watkins Brothers Funeral Homes, MacDonald Chapel, 315 N. Michigan Ave., Howell, MI 48843.
Funeral Services will follow the visitation at 1:00 pm.
In 1952 Sherri was born in the City by the Bay. Bay City, Michigan, of course, not San Francisco.
Life's hazards moved her to the Detroit area, and, from there, to Utah and California, before she finally returned to Southeast Michigan for good. A recurring theme in her life was the fear of abandonment, something we all have in some part. Her father never entered her life. Her mother left Bay City for nursing school in Detroit. In her early years, she received wise counsel from her grandmother – the beloved Mum-Mum – who helped instill into her traits such as courage... responsibility... self-reliance... honesty... loyalty, determination, and all the things that made her loveable and admirable. Her surrogate mother, Mum-Mum, would also leave her, killed by a falling tree branch.
Her mother eventually retrieved Sherri from Bay City and brought her down to the Detroit area, where she graduated from Allen Park High in 1970 (as Sherri Lynn Russow). But that was the hectic era of the 60s, and she was not immune from the call of Golden California. An interesting sidebar here: A girl with whom Sherri worked had tickets to Woodstock and tried to persuade to go with her. She turned the girl down because?? Yep – she had to work and refused to jeopardize her job
As did so many other adventurous teens, Sherri took off with a boyfriend and headed to the West Coast. The weather was glorious, but she did not end up surfing her days away. She found herself operating heavy machinery for a construction company! (Take that Annette Funicello!) Responsible Sherri always found work to put food on the table. And one of those at her table was her new son, Breven Hale, born in 1974. Throughout her life, Sherri showed the ability to handle rough work. Later, she even went "up top" to help reroof her Ferndale home.
Happily for us, she began to feel a growing pull to return to her Midwest roots. Unhappily for her, her shortsighted boyfriend refused to go with her. Deserted again. Nevertheless, courageous Sherri grabbed Brev and returned to Michigan. She went to school at night to get her degree while working during the day. This was the beginning of her decades-long employment at Michigan Bell. In fact, Sherri was a "3-G" Ma Bell employee since her mom was still a nurse for Bell, and Mum had also worked for the company back in the day. She began as an operator and ended her career having worked her way up to a 9-1-1 Operations Manager. One story Brev likes to tell is when he – just a kid, you know – stretched up to the phone on the wall at home and pushed the Oon the dial to talk to his mom. And did!! Mom Sherri, of course, firmly told him to stop playing with the phone and hung up on him.
After retiring, she discovered a whole new world – music. She attended a high school night class and was introduced to the ukulele. After that, she moved on to the guitar and then the mandolin. She joined a Senior Center group, The Strummers, in Livingston County so that she could play in a band. And then, to top it all off, she hooked up with a bluegrass group so she could play her favorite music. Oh, and sing, too!! She was dedicated to these groups. Playing with them was the #2 love of her life, right behind Brev, of course. Then came the dogs – oh, the many dogs over the years – at #3. Husband John was more than happy to occupy the #4 ranking. He's been telling people recently that he felt he was overtaking Paloma and Layla for the third spot, but he's been known to fantasize about such things, so we can probably discount that part. On the other hand, there might be some truth to it. One time he and Sherri spotted a big ol' tortoise waddling across Telegraph Road. Sherri told him to rescue the creature, and he picked up the snapping beast and hauled it off the roadway. So he must have gotten some points for that, right? Another sidebar: After a week of wondering when "Mom" was coming home, both Paloma and Layla finally realized it was never to be. When John returned home from some errand and opened the garage door, there were no welcoming barks. No barks. And neither dog got up to approach him when he entered the home.
2014 was a bad year for Sherri. She suffered a bleeding stroke and ended up unable to move her left leg or left arm. The docs tended to believe that she would never regain her abilities, and she was viewed by the Therapy Department at Chelsea Hospital as a less-than-likely candidate for their program. But she fought like crazy to get into the program, won that battle, and worked herself back to maybe 95% recovery in a year or two. She drove her car, walked her dogs, and – most critical for her – played her instruments! Unbelievable! But she was like that.
But the hemorrhagic stroke that brought her down last week was too massive to survive, and though husband John kept looking for a miracle, the world was out of them last week. And for that, the world is a lesser place than it if Sherri were still with us, playing, singing, and smiling.
She is survived by her husband, John; her son Breven Hale; two grandsons and one great-grandson; her two sisters, Robin Russow and Melanie Barker; her niece, Hadley Barker; and by her nephew Reece Barker. Burial will be in Bay City.