Sheryl Kay Smith

Sheryl was born in Fargo, North Dakota on September 9, 1941. She, her father, William D. (Bill) Alverson, and her mother, Agnes Olea, moved to Long Beach in 1942. Bill and Agnes and their toddler daughter moved to Seattle in 1943. In 1948, they built a house on Sixteenth Avenue in south Seattle. Sheryl lived there until she graduated from West Seattle High School in 1959 and went to Washington State College in Pullman.

In February of 1960, she agreed to accompany a friend on a double-blind date if her friend couldn’t find somebody else to go with her. Marshall Smith and his friend were the dates and Marshall got paired with Sheryl. On May 13th, 1961, Sheryl became Mrs. Marshall Smith. After Marshall graduated, they moved to Seattle, where Marshall commenced his career with Boeing.

At first, they lived in an apartment on Beacon Hill. When first son Scott was nearing birth, Sheryl and Marshall moved into Bill and Agnes’ house and Bill and Agnes moved into an apartment. When second son Brian was a year old, Marshall and Sheryl built a house in Renton. They lived there for thirty-three years, raising Scott, Brian and third son Adam.

After the three boys were in school, Sheryl started working as the bookkeeper for the Highlands Branch of A&H Drug Stores. She worked there for more than twenty years. Her earnings added enough to the family coffers that all three children were able to graduate from college with no debts. Also, their sons were able to stay in one school district for all their primary education.

In 1990, after the boys were in college and since Marshall seemed to be rooted at the Boeing Everett plant, Sheryl and Marshall moved to Mukilteo, just down the hill from the Everett plant. This allowed Marshall to discontinue the 33-mile Renton to Everett commute. This also allowed Sheryl to retire from A&H and take on community benefit tasks as well as prowling around Puget Sound with her bosom buddy Diane Evans.

In 1999, Marshall transferred to the Boeing Portland plant. Since Marshall was working, Sheryl got to commute back and forth between Portland and Mukilteo to take care of selling one house and buying another. They moved into their new home in Fairview in September of that year.

Sheryl lived in Fairview and Marshall until, in late 2020, her heath declined such that she required formal care. She received that excellent care at the Golden Nest in Gresham until she passed away on December 15th. She and Marshall had been married for a few months more than sixty years. In that time, they had three sons and six grandchildren.