On the morning of November 30th, 2023, surrounded by her loving husband and children, our wife, mother, grandmother, and friend participated with us in family prayer before passing gently from this life into the comforting arms of her Heavenly Parents. Her valiant fight with cancer is over and she’s now ready to continue her compassionate ministry of faith in Jesus Christ on the other side of the veil.

Born in Twin Falls, Idaho on April 7th, 1949, to proud parents Phyllis Marie Reese, a nurse, and Robert E. English, a veteran of WW2, Sherri embraced her life as a daughter of Idaho. From her mother she gained a love of dancing, compassionate kindness, and a foundation of faith, and from her father a love of sports and hard work. Growing up in Hazleton, she remembered days picking sugar beets, climbing tall factory catwalks to experience the freedom of wide-open vistas, and enjoying the outdoors. Later her mother married Dee Jenkins and he became a second father for her, loving her and giving her a home where her faith in God strengthened and her testimony of her Savior, Jesus Christ, became inseparably cemented in her soul.

Her love of dance blossomed and grew through her teenage years until she graduated a proud Viking from Valley High School in Hazleton in 1967. Anxious to continue her education, she quickly enrolled at Rick’s College in Rexburg where she made friendships with her roommates which would last a lifetime. Upon finishing two years at Ricks, Sherri was accepted at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Her move to Provo forever expanded her horizons and laid the foundation for the rest of her life. Loving dance of all kinds, she frequented every on-campus dance party she could until a fateful night with her friends at the Arizona Club. Across the dancefloor a young return missionary named Gary thought he saw an angel. Of course, he was proven correct, and after his first dance with Sherri he declared that he would marry her.

Sherri achieved her bachelor’s at BYU in April 1972 and was married to Gary for time and all eternity on June 23rd , 1972, in the Idaho Falls Temple. As a young couple, Sherri and Gary made their first home in Provo where they managed a motel. Sherri ran the motel during the day while Gary attended BYU to finish his degree. Their faith was tested early on when Sherri, newly pregnant, learned that the medicine she was taking would result in severe malformities for her baby and possibly a still birth. Undeterred, she asked Gary for a blessing which resulted in a miracle – her baby was born whole, and Sherri never again needed her medication. That faith to be cured was miraculously proven many more times throughout their marriage, with Sherri being healed from severe burns on her legs, to her children being healed from accidents and injury, and ultimately to her own life being prolonged during her fight with cancer.

Sherri and Gary lived in Utah for 17 years where all seven of their children were born. A pattern of dance recitals, soccer, track, basketball and football was set for the children and driving to each was Sherri’s favorite pastime.

The family moved to Fallon, Nevada in 1990 where, for the next 17 years, all their children finished high school and the pattern of dance recitals, soccer, track, basketball and football continued. Following their parents’ example and teachings, all five of their sons served missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and all seven children graduated from a university.

In 2007, Sherri and Gary returned to Utah as empty nesters and made Salem their new home where Sherri loved to see the Utah mountains.

Together, Sherri and Gary were called to serve in the Columbus Ohio Mission in 2021 where they lived with, loved, and taught Nepali refugees. The Nepali branch is only the third in existence in the world. Sherri loved all the Nepali people especially the children who called her ‘momma’. Sherri loved serving in the temple. She served 15 years as an ordinance worker in three different temples: Reno, Provo, and Payson. She was always happy serving the patrons as they came to the temple. Faith punctuated mom’s life through raising seven children and serving others where her testimony that Jesus Christ lives and loves all of God’s children is the exclamation point at its end. That we can all be strengthened to meet life’s trials through His Atonement is the knowledge sealed by her example. We love you mom.

Sherri is preceded in death by her father, Robert English; and stepfather, Dee Jenkins. She is survived by her mother, Phyllis; stepfather, Ray; her brothers Terry, Robin and Tracy; her darling husband, Gary; her children: James, Jonathon, Jeffery, Brett, Scott, Alisha, Amy, and her Brazilian daughter, Aryana Monterio; twenty-four grandchildren, and hundreds of friends whose lives she touched.

The funeral service will be held on Saturday, December 9, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1129 South 250 West, Salem, Utah.  There will be visitation Saturday morning, December 9, 2023, at the church from 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.  A visitation will also be held Friday evening, December 8, 2023, from 6:00 p.m.- 8:00 p.m. where family and friends may gather at Walker Funeral Home, 587 South 100 West, Payson, Utah. Interment will be at Salem City Cemetery.

The funeral service will be streamed live. Please return to Sherri's memorial page shortly before 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 9, 2023, and click on the link below.

Sherri Kay Peterson Funeral Service