Dr. Cheryl Rae Huff

Cheryl was born in Harrodsburg, KY, to William Lawrence Huff and Alice Wesley Yeaste Huff on St. Patrick’s Day of 1943. Growing up on a farm in neighboring Rose Hill, she spent time climbing trees, chasing chickens, playing piano and studying. Her entire school career prior to college was in Catholic schools, and in high school she was a boarding student at St. Catherine’s Academy in Bardstown, KY. She went home on weekends and directed the church choir. She played a mean classical piano and was destined to be a nun and teach music. Somewhere, though, an independent streak was growing in her, maybe credited to the love and respect she had for her brother Bill. Her love of math won out over performing music recitals. She graduated from St. Catherine’s as Valedictorian and went to Marian College in Indianapolis on a scholarship. She listed her high school memories as growing up on a farm, going to church, and going to school. One of her earliest ambitions was to get out of a small town and live in a big city.

After one year, she decided to leave Marian College and return home. She always said it was too cold in Indianapolis, but it might have been the boyfriend on the adjoining farm that influenced her decision. She then commuted to the University of Kentucky, where she majored in math. While taking courses at the University of Kentucky, she and Gene McMurry married. Cheryl graduated in three years with a degree in Mathematics in 1964 while carrying their soon-to-be daughter, Deborah Jean McMurry. They stayed in Lexington while Cheryl got her master’s in mathematics and began teaching junior high math.

While teaching at Murray State in western Kentucky, Cheryl’s independence and drive moved her to accept a job in aerospace at General Dynamics in Fort Worth in 1969. She had found her big city and never looked back! After three years working on government contracts, she returned to teaching in 1972 at the Fort Worth Country Day School. As the math department head in 1977, she hired a teacher who somehow, fourteen years later, became her husband. After leaving Country Day in 1979, Cheryl flirted with going for her Ph.D. Instead, she got distracted by the restaurant business and spent three years managing a restaurant and perfecting her cooking skills. She then went to work with her future husband in the mortgage business. Finally, her passion for education and teaching took over again, and she began teaching at the University of Dallas without her doctorate. While there, she enrolled in the religion department and got a Master of Theology degree because of her interest in spirituality, and why not? Fearful that the university would hire someone with a doctorate, she accepted a job with Cistercian Preparatory School in 1991. She and Frank married in July of 1991, and Cheryl started teaching at Cistercian while working on her Ph.D. in math at the University of North Texas. During her ten years at Cistercian, she finally became Dr. Cheryl Huff. Then start up North Hills Preparatory hired her to teach math, and she eventually became the school’s principal. Ten years later, she accepted a teaching position at The Highlands School. After ten years there and going through the changes required by Covid, she decided to retire. She and Frank traveled, enjoying life, musicals, churches, and dinner parties at home until colon cancer hit in January of 2023. Determined not to let her illness interfere with life, she pushed through her first round of cancer and chemo, but with increasing pain, she decided to enter the hospice program in August of 2024. Not fearful of death she went into their pain management program positively until her peaceful death on September 12, 2024.

Her interests were varied and many. Her search for spirituality led her to study Ernest Holmes’s The Science of Mind, which she used as a guide in her daily devotional throughout most of her life. Her church connections were the Center for Spiritual Living and the Cathedral of Hope. She loved music and attended musicals, the Shakespeare Festival in Utah, and concerts of the Turtle Creek Chorale, of whom she was a huge fan, in Dallas. She also loved sports. An avid tennis and golf player and devoted Jazzercise member, she stayed in perfect physical condition. Back in the ‘70s, she sold Cokes at the original Ranger stadium to make ends meet, and during her cancer illness, she was able to watch her Texas Rangers finally win their World Series championship.

Cheryl is survived by her husband of thirty-three years, Frank Johnson, and her daughter Deborah Jean McMurry Weeden (and husband Billy). Their blended family includes Debbie’s children Robert Weeden (wife Heather and children Vanessa, Annabelle, and Robert, aka Kenny); Daniel Weeden (wife Kelsey and children Lillian and June); William Weeden (wife Zoe); and Abby Weeden Gregg (husband Scott); and Frank’s son Matt Johnson (wife Misty and children Joey (daughter Alayna) and Ethan). That adds up to six grands and six greats. She is also survived by her brother Bill (William Lawrence Huff, Jr.) who she loved dearly, and his children Cathy Carter (son Jesse and significant other Marty); Cindy Brown (husband Robbie and children Tyler and Corey); Carrie Gammon (husband Michael) and Carrie’s son John Steven Mays; and Chris Huff (daughters Isabelle and Scarlett).

There will be no memorial service, but a public toasting opportunity will be available on Facebook shortly. While preparing for this life event, Cheryl stated that she wanted to leave her friends and loved ones with these final words: “Breathe and laugh a lot!” Finally, a friend from the past summed up Cheryl best by saying, “Her kindness and acceptance of all was just who she was.”