Sherry Hope Workman Breslin

Sherry passed away on November 19, 2015. Although her life was prematurely shortened she made sure she always Lived well, Laughed a lot, and Loved many. She left behind her son, Sean David Breslin, her father, Abraham Workman, her sister, Stefanie Ann Workman and many many close friends. In the picture above her sister is under the word “Think” but Sherry is appropriately under the word “Life”. And she was full of it, from the time she was a baby to the day she passed. She was always bouncing and dancing as a child and constantly busy with volunteering as a teenager and young adult. Leading her peers was natural for her, as President of her B’nai B’rith Girls chapter and later, the Young Adults chapter. Her compassion for others lead her to get a Masters in Social Work and work with tough clients—ex-convicts. She was so good at what she did that she’d write protocols for the agency to help others learn what to do in their jobs. She wouldn’t hesitate to go into the field where her clients worked or lived and put up a street-wise attitude while her heart was racing with fear. During this time she married Timmy Breslin, a singer/musician, who like her sister, was very smart and tutored school-aged children. They lived in Flushing, NY but on a cross country trip to the West Coast, they fell in love with San Diego and off they moved, settling fortuitously in Padre Gardens Apartments near the stadium where she landed a job in the management office. And that began a 35 year relationship with what was eventually called West Star Properties and the 3 sister owners(Carol,Susan and Emily). Sherry loved her work, taking on the maintenance projects and in the later years, became Operations Manager. In her Social Worker mentality she carried out her job as if everyone needed encouragement and positive reinforcement, while following-up doggedly with bidders, vendors and employees to get them to do their best for the company. Her speedy typing skills and love of writing led her to document everything and be quick to send a note of thanks, a birthday card or a holiday card…family and friends always loved hearing thoughtful words from her.

In 1983, her son, Sean David Breslin was born. Sherry and Timmy dotted on their Seany Bear and loved to go to his team sports, especially the softball/baseball games which was Sean’s favorite. It helped to have the Coach as his Dad. They did lots of fun things together and lived in Escondido, CA which was a great place to raise a kid. Sherry and Tim went their own ways by the time Sean was 16yrs.old. It was scarey for Sherry but being like her favorite animal, the turtle, she was hard on the outside but soft on the inside. She

kept her goals in front of her, working even harder and eventually felt confidence in her financial security (with a little push from her friends) and bought a condo in Murrieta, CA. (a 70 min. commute!). Once Sherry was on her own, she went back to her old favorites—dancing, Motown music, and volunteering. She found a fantastic group of friends that loved to dance and they met weekly for their musical “exercise”. This got her in better physical shape and gave her a chance to dress up and feel pretty and “go blonde”. Dating was another addition to her schedule and she even explored the various on-line sites and became an expert on speed-dating. Even as a teen, she would tell her sister, that she could judge whether she liked a person within several minutes of meeting them. Everyone has their own special talents!!

Eventually some chronic medical complications lead to the need for a Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT). Her sister came from AZ to stay with her at the City of Hope hospital in March 2014 and for the next 3 months they were together in a new adventure! From the chemotherapy, to the donor stem cell infusion, to the nasty side effects of medications, to the wonderful care by nurses, ancillary staff and doctors, Sherry had a positive and happy attitude during the whole process. Stefanie and Sherry had hours to talk, reminisce and catch up on years of experiences. Losing a lot of weight meant that the sisters could trade clothes and Sherry updated her wardrobe. Fun times. Since the BMT was so successful, Sherry felt she had a long future ahead. Her dad, Abe and sister came out for the City of Hope’s Annual BMT reunion in May 2015. What a celebration with over 5000 other recipients and donors and a chance to see her favorite Dr. Cai. It was a wonderful day. Unfortunately bad news came a couple of weeks later when Sherry got diagnosed with Malignant Melanoma, a difficult cancer to treat at the advanced stages. This proved to be her toughest time and although she tried to keep up with work and responsibilities, her last 2 weeks were spent in the hospital. As Stefanie sat by her bedside, she talked about getting some work stuff tidied up, going to rehab to get stronger, and finishing up that cheesecake that was bought for her recent birthday…She still hoped to overcome this cancer with her characteristic will power. On November 19th at 3:08pm she danced “to the light”, ready to take on organizing the next group of co-travelers.

We are saddened about all the things that she won’t get to do with her physical body but are reassured that after she passed, she was riding the Snoopy float at the Thanksgiving Day Macy’s parade, dancing to the “60s" and “70s” Motown hits, bring on laughs in her Clown costume made up by her friend Dina, taking notes on the WestStar improvement projects that she now has a birds eye view of, and sitting on your shoulder cheering you on to do your absolute best with a big Happy smile.

Love you always,

Your sister, dad and son

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Sherry's name to City of Hope in Duarte, CA

http://www.cityofhope.org/giving

or by helping Stefanie fundraise for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through her half marathon.

http://pages.teamintraining.org/az/rnraz16/SWorkman