She is survived by her husband William "Bill" S. Harris Jr, her parents William George and Gladys Juren Plueckhahn, her children Matthew Scott Harris (Min Zhong), Kenneth Blake Harris, Dr. Amanda Kay Harris, DMA (Scott Burger), and Dr. Jeffrey Clark Harris, PhD, three grandsons, sister Charlotte Ann Plueckhahn, and uncle Dennis Juren (Ruth) and their three children.
Born in Dallas, Texas, she spent her early years growing up in Waco, Brady, Bryan/College Station, and Austin before returning to Dallas and attending Hillcrest High School.
Cheryl attended The University of Texas at Austin, receiving a Bachelor of Music with Honors in 1971. She became a member of and scholarship chairman for the Pi Kappa chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi. She joined the Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity and was inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda, a music honor society. She became a member of the University of Texas Symphony Orchestra. She received her Master of Music from the University of Oregon in 1973 through its German Music Center near Ludwigsburg, West Germany.
She met her husband Bill on a blind date in Germany on November 4, 1972, and they married 14 months later. From the evening of their first date, he was captivated by how she thought and felt compelled to spend more time with her. He learned from her throughout 49 years and 1 month of marriage and the raising of one daughter and three sons, and he would still love more time with her.
Cheryl was active in classical music as an educator, performer, and parent. As an educator, she began by directing string and symphony orchestras in the Dallas, Pasadena, and Austin Independent School Districts in Texas. She took time off to have two boys, one girl, and one more boy.
The arcs of her life became intertwined, as she returned to work by auditioning for and getting a position as a violist for the Everett Symphony Orchestra for the 1988/89 season. She said that one reason for doing this was to demonstrate to her kids, especially her sons, that mothers can also work outside of the home. She remained with the ESO and its successor, the Everett Philharmonic Orchestra, through the 2018/19 season, becoming acting principal and then principal violist in 2001 and 2002.
She picked up the educator arc again by taking over the role of librarian for the Everett Youth Symphony from a colleague in the ESO. After eight years of being their librarian, she also took over directing the string orchestras in the EYS that directly fed into a symphony orchestra, continuing in those roles until the EYS closed.
As a parent, she required each of her children to study an instrument through high school. One picked violin, the next cello, the next piano, and the youngest violin. As they developed their skills, Cheryl formed the Harris Ensemble, beginning as a trio with the two oldest boys and her on viola. They prepared programs and performed for a museum opening and other events. As the other son developed his skills, the ensemble became a string quartet. All drew benefit from this background in their later lives. Her daughter earned her DMA and has become a full-time pianist and educator.
As a performer, Cheryl began to play with Quartette Con Brio and other ensembles in the region, including Northwest Savoyards, 6+ seasons with the Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society, and the Port Gardner Bay Chamber Orchestra. She has played for weddings and other events from the Canadian border to Olympia.
She was proud of having played in the ESO when they provided backup support for a Tony Bennett concert and a Ray Charles concert. She frequently played for services at Trinity Episcopal and other churches.
As an educator, she provided piano accompaniment for the Eisenhower Middle School choir and was a string specialist for the Edmonds, Mukilteo, and Northshore school districts, continuing this even after she began to cut back on performing on viola due to her cancer.
She also had hobbies, starting with growing plants. Benjamin, a philodendron she started and named while at Lamar Jr. High in Austin, still thrives in her living room. When she moved to Everett and discovered she could grow hardy fuchsia, she planted enough hanging baskets in her back yard to remind one of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. She grew perennials as well as produce. Tomatoes became one of her annual, tangible expressions of love, as she sought out 14 or more varieties of mostly heirloom tomatoes each year to grow for her husband and kids. Ironically, she didn't even eat tomatoes! Instead, she would insist on gifting her children fresh produce and was proud of the fact that her husband stopped buying tomatoes from the supermarket because hers tasted so much better. She had a tendency to select plants because of their names; one might have the name of a family member, while another might have the name of a school one of her kids attended.
She also did needlepoint, from a Rice University-themed wall hanging for Bill on their first Christmas to needlepoint pictures and bargello pillows. With the adoption of the first of ultimately seven (four rescue) cats, all the needlepoint went into hiding, and she turned her focus to plants.
As a native Texan, she loved football. As an adopted Northwesterner, she loved the Seahawks. Patrice Shearer, EPO concertmaster, once had an extra Seahawks ticket and invited her along. Patrice said she saw a whole 'nother side of Cheryl that evening. If there was something she loved more than Seahawks football it was UT football. You could definitely find her watching Texas play whenever they were on TV and she was available. The closest thing to a must-see game was the annual Red River Showdown between Texas and OU.
As a mother, she planned vacations for the family of six with trips to Colorado, Arizona, South Dakota, Disneyland, San Diego, and Texas.
She provided her kids important insights into the world of classical music and life beyond school, private lessons, recitals, and youth symphony, including an appreciation of “The show must go on,” her matter-of-fact approach to getting things done in their own proper time, her focus on independence and responsibility, and her focus on education and working hard, not just being smart. She sought to be a quiet influence for good.
Cheryl was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive cancer late in 2012. In the past, people had sometimes described her approach to music with “The show must go on.” Now she applied it to life. When she was hospitalized shortly before Amanda and Scott’s wedding, Amanda called to figure out what to do. Cheryl’s clear answer? “The show must go on!”
When they were dating and played guess-the-temperature, Bill had said to friends "Don't bet against Cheryl", as she would routinely guess the temperature correctly as confirmed by bank outdoor temperature signs. While in treatment, that became their mantra, reminding doctors and nurses that they should never give up on Cheryl, for she was a much stronger fighter than she might have seemed.
Special thanks to Marie-Josee Harimenshi and her team at Guardian Angels AFH LLC for their exceptionally loving and gentle support and to Evergreen Hospice for the care they provided Cheryl in her final days. Special thanks also to the Sarcoma team at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Cheryl's memory to the Trinity Episcopal Church Organ Restoration Fund or the Everett Philharmonic Orchestra.
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