I am sorry to hear that Sherry passed away at such a young age. She was a lovely person to know. She was always cheerful and never had a cross word to say - even when she was under stress. She was also very artistic. During her microscope work, she could find beauty in the images she took. We joked about her "Monets" and abstracts. I even made montages for her and posted some of her images on a website. I thought she was a very gentle soul. I will miss seeing her at the university. I feel for her family. I hope they are comforted by the happy memories they have of her.

im so sorry for your loss joe, your dear and old friend jay johnson

I've worked at the University of Chicago for 17 years, and while I never worked with Sherry directly, I would often run into her at various facilities that we would both use on campus. She always remembered me, and we'd always share a "Hello, how are you?" I don't think I ever saw her without a smile on her face, and it always seemed that every day was a good day for Sherry. It wasn't until I learned of her illness that I also learned that we were practically neighbors off campus. After attending a potluck lunch for Sherry this past Friday at work, and enjoying some of her favorite recipes that co-workers and friends shared to celebrate her life, I realized how much she was loved and appreciated by so many people. I only wish I had known her better. May Joe and her parents take comfort in knowing that she is in a better place, and that she is still smiling down.

I'm so sorry to hear of Sherry's passing. She was my supervisor my first 3 years of college from 1997-2000. She was a great supervisor and a wonderful teacher, she will be missed.

My condolences to the Wanderling family.  I did not know Sherry well but we had collaborated on a project.  We would see each other in the parking garage at U of C and say Hi.  She always was very friendly and had a smile on her face.
Elizabeth Davis

To Joe and Sherry's family, I want to wish you all our deepest condolences.
May Sherry rest in Peace..

Peter Seery

My condolences to the Wanderling Family. I'm very sorry for your loss. May the God of all comfort comfort you through the Scriptures during these sad times.(James 4:8) And, may the Scriptural hope of everlasting life sustain you. (John 17:3)

I am so sorry to hear about Sherry's death. She was one of the nicest people in the nephrology department. She was always friendly to me and included me in conversations. My sympathy to her husband, family, and friends.

I only met you a few times. The only thing I can say is that your warm smile was simply overwhelming. Many, too many, will miss you.
My most sincere sympathy to your beloved ones.

My deepest condolences to you Joey, and also to Sherry's parents, and the rest of the family.  I still remember you coming home from college on break, telling me all about the girl that captured your heart, and how in love with her you were.  I know there are no words that can mend the depth of loss you are feeling!  May you receive comfort in the knowledge that there is now another angel watching over you my friend.  Godspeed Sherry!

Sherry was a wonderful person and tremendous friend.  I met Sherry when I went back to work at the University of Chicago twelve years ago.  We worked together in the Superlab in the J corridor.  Sherry always included me for lunch and we became good friends.  We both moved around to different labs and seemed to follow each other around and even ended up in another Superlab in the CIS building.   Sherry was so bright and knowledgeable and was always willing to share her expertise with me, her protocols and lend a helping hand.  I always looked forward to meeting Sherry for lunch to catch up on life and I enjoyed attending  concerts with her.  Sherry had such a postive, uplifting spirit and an infectious smile.  I will miss her dearly.  My sincere condolences to Joe and her parents as well as her family and friends.  
Randi Kaplan Stern

I worked with Sherry at the University of Chicago for many years.  I was impressed with her intelligence, her excellent technical and organizational skills, and her ability to multi-task.  However, it was her smile, her warmth,  her laughter, and her company at lunch that made me blessed to be her Friend.  I am so sorry for her loss.

my deepest sympathy goes out to you and your family. from Ashley sprenger

Our thoughts and prayers are with you in your time of grief.  May your memories bring you comfort.

Sherry we love you ...May god keep you in peace and tranquility. We send our love and prayers thru him to you...We pray for God's blessings..may you rest in peace...and for all that mourn you ... your husband Joe, family, and friends  I pray for love, strength, and God blessings for all. Love you Sherry ...Joe we send our love and condolences to you.  God bless.

Sherry was everyone's best friend. She was kind, fun and always smiling. Her heart was limitless and patience seemingly endless. It was an honor to know her and all my love is with her family at this time.

I met Sherry in 2001 when our labs moved into the "Superlab" together.  We became such close friends when we worked together in Dr. Getz's lab for a few years that we joked about "sharing a brain."  After we each moved on to different labs, we still saw each other often.  When we were working in different buildings, she'd call me and say, "I'll be over for lunch in 10 minutes."  I knew it would be at least 20 minutes before she came because she inevitably ran into someone she knew on the way over and stopped to chat.  She worked in 6 different labs in almost 20 years at U of C and made countless friends during that time.  Her generosity and kindness just drew people to her.  I'm so happy to have known her.  My condolences to Joe, her parents, and the rest of her family, as well as her "work family".  We will miss her terribly and remember her fondly.

We were so sad to hear this news.  Sherry and I were college roommates for just a year, but I remember her as a genuinely kind person with a loving and giving heart.  Carey and I send our heartfelt sympathy to Joe and the family.

I was so shocked and sad when I heard about the news of Sherry's passing.  She trained and helped me with much love and patience when I rotated in Perozo lab and it really means a lot to me. I will always remember her!

I had the pleasure of working with Sherry in the early 2000's, in the days of the "J310 superlab."  She was a beautiful person in every way and a fabulous cook! Everything she made for potlucks disappeared immediately. I still use the recipes she shared, especially her delicious carrot cake.  She will be missed.

I have to agree with others who have signed the guestbook.  Sherry has always been one of the nicest people I have ever known and was a dear friend.  I am grateful for her friendship and the good times that we had together.

Sherry and I were room mates in college.  She was always close to my heart.  My college memories are intertwined with my love for Sherry.  She was so much fun, but also had a depth of caring that stays with you forever.  

I got to see her fall in love with Joe.  Seeing how sweet and loving he was to our dear Sherry, made all of us love him, too.  Carl and I are thinking of you, Joe.  We'll miss her, too.

Condolences to the family and friends. Please be comforted by God's words at Romans 8:35-39.

Your loss was felt by many, including our great God. He promises that we will have the hope to see them again. We all have the chance to live in peace, on earth, and live forever. Palms 37:9-11,29.

Sherry was one of the nicest people we ever met. She was always smiling, cheerful and willing to help anyone in need. We will miss her greatly.
Tamara Mirzapoiazova
Patrick A. Singleton

Joseph………………I'm so saddened to hear of the passing of your lovely wife. I didn't even know she was battling  a serious illness. My heart goes out to you my dear friend. The Lord will heal your broken heart in the process of time. I do remember how close you two were, and how much you loved each other. I can only imagine how you must feel just by thinking about what I would do without Mattie. I'd like to talk to you more about this when the time is right. Just know this …… when we're in pain that is the time when the Lord is closest to us…. Although He is never far from us at any time.
 
Blessings To You

Rev. Charles W. Johnson

For the memory of Sherry.

I was informed early Saturday morning that Sherry passed away on Friday night February 21 a little after 11 PM. I was stunned and my mind was empty for quite a while. I didn't feel convinced that was the case and there might be fine line between illusion and reality. I still remembered her email on February 14 that gave some updates on her treatments and wished me luck on the coming Biophysical Society Meeting. Until I saw her obituary notice in Chicago Tribune in this morning, I started to realize that she has indeed left us. 
The deep sorrow submerged me and forced me to do something to prevent the explosion in my heart. In my mailbox, there are more than 1000 emails with Sherry from October 4, 2010 to February 14, 2014. Those probably entitled me as one of her closest colleagues in her last journey. There has been so much going on in those three years and four months, and I strongly feel obligated to show how wonderful Sherry has been not only for myself but also for anybody who had the privilege to interact with her.
Sherry came to our lab in October 2010 when her previous boss decided to leave academic position to lead industrial projects. At the time, our lab was dominated enthusiastic researchers who had been focused crazy ideas and feasibility of experiments, with much less concerns on lab management and administrative efforts. As a consequence, our lab has been constantly warned by administrative staff from the department on expenses and has caused huge deficit on the grants. Sherry came in to rescue as the best lab manager with all qualities you could ever ask for. 
Sherry knew her responsibilities and did her job very well in many different ways by overseeing everything happening in the lab including individual projects, activities, chemicals and stocks, personnel emotional fluctuations. She worked with PI and administrative stuffs to execute the plan of budget. With her presence, lab was always flushed with resources without any financial concern. She has talented social skills to work with everybody smoothly, and meet everybody's requests promptly. She can always get amazing deals from sales representatives, and she can reinforce the rules without offending people. She took care of safety training and diverse required protocols without our notice. Furthermore, she is the key of our cruise management in the lab. Ever since she joined the lab, we started to the have the birthday celebration for lab members. She was popularly recognized around the department as well. She helped the department to order the shared instruments and took care of their maintenance. Every new PI in the department consulted Sherry a lot at the initial phase of setting up the lab. Sherry always volunteered to train the new people in the lab and that was usually not the favorite task for others. Here is a brief list of person she has trained as I can remember: Taro, Johannes, Klaudia, Christina, Cristina, Carlos, May and Alvis. Soon enough, all lab members reached a solid consensus that Sherry is the most indispensable personnel in the lab.
On top of her talent in administration, she was also a great scientist. She was patient, hard-working and enthusiastic on projects with big visions. One of her first projects in lab was to help me on site directed mutagenesis. Using my protocol, she was able to double the successful rate of the experiments and embarrassed me quite a bit in the group meeting. She had constant interests in new techniques and had open mind to try something new. Most of her scientific efforts in lab were involved in working with me and she has served as the times. Sherry had clear devotion to science and didn't mind the hard-working. We were constantly culturing more than 20 liters of cell and process them immediately for protein purification which was a frightening scale to many others. She usually volunteered to accompany and help me in the synchrotron beamline which was usually a 24-hour shift schedule and involved overnight stay in the Argonne National Lab. Furthermore, I have to admit that I am not the easiest person to work with scientifically. My schedule always fluctuates with the flow of ideas. Sherry had to be patient and flexible enough to catch up my pace without being disturbed too much. We used to touch base in the early morning and she had to be used to my starting phrase “change of the plan”. In the last year, we have worked so smoothly with each other that a consensus of idea is enough for us to execute from individual prospective without too much communication on the experimental details. 
Working together with Sherry has been a great to pleasure to experience her sweet personality. Sherry had peaceful mind and joyful life, and she enjoyed to share with others. For the entire period of more than three years, Sherry had always been nice and sweet to the people around and I had never seen Sherry angry with anybody in any event. She always shared the herbs from her garden to lab members. She was particularly interested in cooking and we can enjoy her bakery once a while. Since we had to bring food to prepare for the overnight shift in Argonne, I was the lucky one to have the plenty chances to try her favorite recipes. I still remembered her Kiwi Avocado toasties in a midnight in Argonne which was my first time to take fruit as a main dish, but it was great and became my favorite in home now. 
Although we have lost Sherry, her spirit during the treatment truly lighted up. She has been actively evaluating the available medical choices, and putting her best efforts in trying. She constantly sent out updates and showed her positive attitude during the progress. At same time, she was working on lab duties remotely including ordering the lab supplies and helping me to analyze the DNA sequencing results. Nobody can do any better than her in her condition. She is a true angel. I still remembered clearly the day in last October when she mentioned about the big mess in her pancreas after the first CT scan. At the night back home, I searched intensively on what that could mean and I was very sad to figure out the possible link to the pancreatic cancer. I am a person with optimistic attitude but pessimistic plans. I was hoping and praying for Sherry on every round of treatments: it is not tumor but something else and biopsy will be negative; a surgery can remove the tumors; chemotherapy can shrink the tumors and the clinical trial can contain the spreading. I told Sherry that I would be religious if God grant my wish this time. God must be crazy this time. 
Sherry and I, as a team, have worked on one of most challenging projects in lab and have been struggling under the tunnel of hope and frustration for a long time. Finally, two of significant publications from us were on their way out by now. Those are the shining light at the end of the miserable tunnel and we should have been very joyful at this moment. Without Sherry being around, Eduardo and I didn't even want to celebrate. Sherry, we missed you. 
In the one and half years, Sherry and I usually took off from the lab and walked to the parking garage together. Then she would offer me a ride to my car which is further than the garage. In last few days when she was still in the lab, she had been asking me to drive her from lab to the parking garage. I felt that was my chance to return her favors, but she left us. Sherry, I missed you.
I am indebted to her kindness and enormous help in many ways, and haven't got the opportunities to pay them back. As an Asian, we believe there are cycles of lives. Then, we may have chances to meet and be friends again. Sherry, you will always be with me.

February 23, 2014 midnight at Chicago

Sherry is my best friend, and she will live in my heart, forever!

We are deeply saddened by the news of Sherrys passing. Our heartfelt condolences to you and your family.Our thoughts and prayers are with you.We love you.

OBITUARY

Sherry Lynn Wanderling

June 14, 1968 – February 21, 2014

Woodlawn Funeral Home & Memorial Park

Show your support

Add a Memory

Share Obituary

Get Updates

Past Services

Visitation

Funeral Service

Visitation

Funeral Service

Interment