Welcome to the Sheri Show!
The title of my talk is : She lived. She loved. She left proof.
I met my mom July of 1962.
It was love at first sight. She was gorgeous, talented, kind, and so
wise. I grew up in a very loving
household. One filled with the gospel of
Jesus Christ .
As Mom’s Scottish mission
presidents would say… “There goes Sister Cole…scattering Sunshine”—the goodness and optimism kind of
Sunshine and Son- Shine..as in the Son of God with her strong testimony of the
Gospel. She scattered Sunshine everywhere
she went.
Today I would like to focus
on my mom’s many talents.
I asked my children to share
about their Grandma.
Monson said:
“One of my most favorite things
about Grandma Sheri is that she was
always there supporting us in anything that we did and she always wanted to help
us be the best at it.”
Laila
said; My Grandma was the definition of
courage and love
Bre says: Gma Sheri taught me to love
unconditionally, to embrace my divine nature as a daughter of God, that I am
more than I could ever understand, and that life is that we might have
joy.
Addison says Grandma
Sheri was one of the most influential and important people in his life, and he
wouldn’t be who he is today without her.
Truman loved how he
could share his hopes and dreams with Grandma and she would make them all sound
possible and encourage him to move forward
Landon is going to
miss his talking buddy. His angel. She
was such a light and strength. A true
fighter. A believer and a lover
My momma had many talents…being a beloved Grandma was one of them.
Being a remarkable mom was
another …. We all felt cherished. Singing together, boating together, shopping
together and being in shows. All summer long we spent at Grandma Butters
pool because our mom would take us and be with us day after day. We worked together, and celebrated EVERY
Holiday! We always felt like we had more than enough. Mom’s positive attitude had a lot to do with
that.
Dance was always mom’s great
love…. From her teen years , dancing at the U of U and then BYU to teaching
dance in our home studio to choreographing for groups all over the Wasatch
front. She has danced her way through
life. But my favorite dance was watching
my parents time and again, dance around
the kitchen and my dad asking us, as he gave my mom a big dip and a kiss…”Kids,
do you know how much I love your mother?”
We never doubted their love.
Sheri was a master teacher. She opened minds and hearts in the classroom,
in church meetings, in the board room
and all across America. Mom taught at
education week many times. And she was
always teaching about Christ and sharing her testimony of light and goodness,
just by being her.
My mom had a great gift of
gab! Talking was really one of her spiritual gifts and along with that was her
gift of listening. …..Mom was an
empathetic and insightful listener. Mom didn’t just talk just to talk…she adored
quality conversation…quality time. Mom
was a talker…or as Little Landon used to say it….a taco. Mom was a self dubbed taco… too
Mom was always the last one
leaving a church meeting..she had to talk to everyone there. As kids we were just glad we always lived close
to our church so we could walk home
Sheri loved to linger longer.
I remember talks that put her
teenage daughters “Back together” after particular hard days at school or with
friends. I remember talks that put her
middle aged daughter back together as well… She would pump us back up with her
words of love.
Mom loved to talk on the
phone. We had to have the home phone
with the longest chord. She would wander all over our house, cleaning,
preparing food, helping us all the while talking on the phone. My dad teased that she should have surgery
and get it permanently embedded. She answered the phone different than anyone else, in her low alto tones…..
“good morning…good afternoon….good evening....Happy Halloween.”
Mom could talk to anyone
about anything. She was all about sharing….what happened at church?, what is a
cherished Christmas memory? Did you see the clouds today? What’s the
latest book you read? What do you feel about the atonement?
Mom could talk anyone
into anything……another talent… I know all you out there that had never been in
a show before, or danced before or sang in a choir before Sheri talked you into
it, know what I’m talking about.
My mom was a collector
of…….well, not things and stuff…but of people.
She was a great gatherer! Once
she had weaved her magic Sheri spell over you…she had you. We discovered all of our friends liked our
mom way more than us . She was like a
magnet.
While working for
Franklin/Covey mom created her own mission statement that resided just outside
her bedroom door for years. Two weeks ago as we were celebrating mom’s
final birthday on earth…we all gathered around her hospital bed for a big Christmas
and hymn sing along/talent show. Then
mom had her final teaching moment where she went through her mission statement
line by line and discussed with us the importance. Her final goal was to have unconditional love. She was so great at this.
I’m so grateful for all of my
mom’s many talents that she shared so freely.
My momma Sheri……..She lived,
She loved, She left Proof
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| Me and Daddy at the viewing |
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| Laila, Grandpa, Preston and Ryan |
1 comment:
This is so beautiful Melinda. What a perfect way to tell her story and share her gifts. I hope it was a day full of love. Love you. erin
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