Sherry Carolyn Kennedy Elliott, of Carrollton, Texas, formerly of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, passed away at the age of 82 on May 24, 2020. She leaves behind her son, Clarence Willard “Scooter” Elliott, III and his wife, Malinda Lynn of Carrollton, Texas; daughter, Erin Gaye “Ginger” Briggs and husband Tommy of Doyline, Louisiana; grandson Brenden Leroy Walter and wife Kourtney of La Crosse, Wisconsin; granddaughter, Caitlin Elizabeth Elliott of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; brother Murrell Dean Kennedy of White Hall, Arkansas; sisters Barbara Kennedy Nelson of Alymra, Arkansas, and Robin Kennedy Carter and husband, Gary, of DeWitt, Arkansas; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband of 46 years, Clarence Willard Elliott, Jr. of Baton Rouge, and parents Holland Leroy Kennedy and Gladys Henderson Kennedy of Almyra, Arkansas.
Sherry was born on January 31, 1938 at the family farm near Alymra, Arkansas. She attended the New Providence school and graduated from DeWitt High School in 1956. She studied at William Woods College in Fulton, Missouri before returning to Arkansas. While she was living in Pine Bluff, she agreed to go out on a blind date with Joanne Elliott’s younger brother, Will (Buddy). One month later they were married at Lodges Corner Methodist Church on September 3, 1960. Sherry followed Buddy to Fayetteville, Arkansas where he finished his Ph.D. in Accounting at the University of Arkansas, then to Rensselaer, Indiana and, finally to Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1964. Sherry was a resident of Baton Rouge for 48 years until she moved to Carrollton, Texas in 2012, six years after Buddy’s passing in 2006.
In addition to managing the family household and successfully raising two rambunctious children, Sherry supported Buddy in his role as Professor of Accounting at Louisiana State University and Southern University, as well as his private CPA practice. She served as president of the Louisiana Society of CPAs Auxiliary, Baton Rouge Chapter and was a substitute bookkeeper for the family’s physicians. She was a lover of history and Japanese pottery, and in her younger years, probably visited every historical site and antique store between Baton Rouge and DeWitt. Sherry was also interested in her own family history and traced her family back several generations long before ancestry.com was invented. She was a member of the James Jackson Gillcoatt chapter of the United Daughters of Confederacy in Arkansas and served in various leadership roles within the Arkansas UDC. Sherry loved to travel and had many memorable trips in her lifetime including attending the National 4-H Congress in Chicago as a teenager, travelling to Acapulco, Mexico as a young woman with Buddy, chaperoning her daughter’s high school civics trip to Washington, DC, travelling with Buddy on his speaking tours around the United States, travelling to Disney World with her son’s family and grandchildren, road trips with her sisters, and taking her daddy to Hawaii.
The family would like to thank the staff at Sonoma House Assisted Living and Holding Hands Hospice Care for their love and care of Sherry during her final days.
In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in Sherry’s name to 4-H at https://4-h.org/ways-to-give
Sherry and her late husband, Will, will be interred at Bayou Meto Cemetery near DeWitt, AR at a later date.
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