Shari Lyn Herschberger

There has been frank speculation on the part of Shari Herschberger’s family and friends that her grand entrance through the Gates of Heaven was a noisy affair. That was Wednesday, February the 25th.

On a bright eternal morning in Heaven, Shari’s parents, Rex and Lula Kimbrough, would have been sipping coffee on their back porch with Shari’s eldest daughter, Lexy, and Shari’s husband Larry Max Herschberger. They must have gawked at each other as they heard the commotion from a distance. “It’s Shari!” they gasped. “Shari is here!” Their coffee cups lay scattered, their porch chairs were overturned, and they ran barefoot and fleetly across the green, green grass to embrace Shari.

Shari had been a golden-haired cheerleader at Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma. She had no training, didn’t know the kicks and poses and dance steps. She didn’t know the cheers. But when she showed up at the tryout, Shari was so pretty and happy and energetic and effusive that the squad just had to have her. Her laughter and joyful squeals pierced the air as she jumped and gyrated, and her feline blue eyes flashed like the summer sky awaiting a prairie lightning storm.

Her arrival in Heaven resembled her tryout at Phillips—and perfected it. In both cases, Larry was smitten.

Shari completed two years at Phillips, then married Larry in 1958. They had five daughters. Count them on your fingers: Lexy, Jenna, Sharmon, Sharon, and Lunell. Larry and Shari had six grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren.

Shari is survived by two brothers, Wendell Kimbrough and David Kimbrough, and four daughters and their spouses: Jenna and Keith Gossett, Sharmon and Keith Owens, Sharon and Lon Mirll, and Lunell and Richard Williamson.

Since her passing, Shari has been joined in Heaven by her younger sister, Norma Ames.

The focus of Shari’s life was her little girls. Please keep in mind that there were five of them—five years old and younger.

Bath time was an industrious affair which Shari made into a game. She would plunk all five girls into the tub together. After everyone’s hair was washed and rinsed, she would pluck out a child, wrap her in a big towel which covered her face, then steer her around the house in a byzantine pattern, spinning and giggling as they went. Then she would stop and say, “Guess which room you’re in!”

“Uhm, the living room?”

Then, Shari would flip the towel from the child’s face for the big reveal. She had to do this five times.

She made their pretty dresses. She would doll-up her girls, and brush their shiny hair, and they, in a line like ducklings, would follow her to Sunday school at First Christian Church in Lubbock.

Shari inspired a love for music in her girls with frequent sing-a-longs at home and family gatherings. With Shari’s coaching, the girls formed a Herschberger ensemble called The Herschy Kisses, and they entertained residents at local nursing homes. They never failed to include Cole Porter’s song True Love. They were always a hit.

Shari had an infectious optimistic outlook. When they got stopped at a traffic light, she and her girls would cheer, “Hurray! We’re first in line!”

Shari was mercurial, yet she lived in the present moment. She chatted amiably with complete strangers, and everyone who met her was smitten. She shared her faith openly.

Few people were so open to possibilities as Shari. Many of us might possess hidden virtue in our inner beings, yet we regret that others cannot see the best in us. But Shari could see it, because she was always on the lookout for things that were grand. You might suppose that was why she was able to perceive the solid gold heart of Larry Herschberger.

The fact that Shari married Larry brings to light the most fundamental attribute of her personality: She was childlike. Listen to what Jesus said about that:

“Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

From the time Shari was born on November 28, 1938, she knew she was the apple of God’s eye. Shari had a childlike faith that her path was God’s purpose. Like a little child, Shari absorbed God’s grace deliciously and without ego. Like a little child, she lived the joyous life which you may remember so fondly.

Like a little child, Shari received the Kingdom of God as a free gift. And so, like a little child, she entered in, golden hair shining, blue eyes flashing, laughing and leaping and singing at the top of her voice.

Rejoice, dear friends! Shari Herschberger heard her Heavenly Father’s call and, like a little child, ran into His arms barefoot and fleetly across the green, green grass.

Services for Shari Lyn Herschberger will be held on Saturday, March 28th, 2026 at 1:00 PM at the Abbey Chapel at Resthaven Funeral Home, 5740 19th St, Lubbock, Texas, 79407.