Amanda Grace Sherard

Amanda or “Gram” celebrated her 80th birthday on February 6, 2020. She transitioned into death in Corpus Christi, Texas where she was born and lived most of her life having arrived on a cold day in February, joyfully welcomed by her parents the late Frank and Uelda Blalack.

A 1958 Ray High School graduate, Amanda attended Del Mar College and went on to serve within that academic community, retiring after 30 years from her work in purchasing and data processing,

She grew up in Corpus Christi and moved to Freer in 1960. She and the boy's dad, Robert R. Sale, Jr. moved to McAllen in 1962 where her first child, Robby, was born. Her second son, Paul, was born in 1965.

The family returned to settle in Corpus Christi in 1966. Amanda was proud of her sons, loving them unconditionally, while encouraging them to experience life with a sense of discovery. She guided them with love—thoughtfully sharing her values, listening to music, reading comics, and exploring art, history, and philosophy. And she never missed a baseball game. The role of loving parent defined her.

Her sons remember her juggling life as a single parent, working and miraculously managing a home with one kid in high school and one in college. All of this with the same kindness that led her to bust Paul’s butt for some childish infraction, only to break the paddle and end up laughing hysterically, forgetting to be angry.

When she wasn’t warming a bench or providing a listening ear she was busily nurturing her growing sons with delicious meals. A warm, welcome kitchen and the smell of mountains of homemade cookies became synonymous with all things “Gram.”

The delicious holiday meals and the sweet delicacies that came from her kitchen were an expression of an artistic sensitivity that she further conveyed through the piano she so enjoyed playing, as well as, the brush strokes of her painting. She applied her gifts in humble ways, gifting her family with music, hand-created ornaments and lovely paintings to be forever cherished.

Amanda met and subsequently married, Alfred “AJ” Sherard. The two of them shared the joy of witnessing their grown children create their own lives, while Gram and AJ built a new life together as a loving couple.

In remembering her first Christmas in their new in home in Calallen, Amanda vividly recalled standing at the warm stove in her new kitchen, one of the places she would come to feel most at home. She recalled listening to the sounds of conversation and laughter emanating from the living room and described the deep sense of joy and satisfaction she experienced in that moment, a conscious awareness of the love of family that she so cherished.

Amanda is proceeded in death by her parents, Frank and Uelda Blalack, her husband, Alfred Sherard, and a niece, Amanda Blalack. She is survived by her two sons and their wives, Robby and Denise Sale, her daughter Sylvia Alexander (Will): Paul and Annette Lopez Sale; her granddaughters, Jenny Sale and Sage Sale; her brother and his wife, Sid and Genie Blalack and her nieces, Julia Blalack and Sydnie Lozano (Antonio).

“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; the greatest of these is charity.” 1 Corithians 13:13