Mary Jean Sherman

1947-2017

Mary Jean Sherman was born to Elmer and Neva Claassen on January 8, 1947 in York NE. During her early childhood years in York, Mary grew fond of the corn fields, countryside and old main streets of Nebraska. She was fortunate to revisit these streets with her grandchildren during her later years. It was during her earliest years that the resilience that has since come to define her life was first recognized. Mary was diagnosed with serious skin problems which caused her great pain, bleeding and difficulty with peers. As her oldest brother Robert recently recalled “Although bleeding and in tears she still laughed more than I did”.

Following her years in Nebraska, the family settled in Castle Rock, Colorado where she attended and graduated from Douglas County High School. Following graduation Mary married Darold Sloan and the couple had 2 children, Gina Lynn and Karin Jane. Shortly thereafter, they divorced and Mary and the girls moved to Arizona.

In 1976 Mary married the love of her life and soul mate, Paul Allen Sherman. From that day forward she was only known to him as “Princess”. In fact when meeting with the funeral director following her death when asked if Mary was known by any other names, Paul whispered through tears, “yes, Princess”. This defines the love the two shared perfectly. Paul brought with him 3 children Taphne, Brian and Mark. Paul and Mary did their very best to blend the families and all things considered they did a beautiful job. We children were most fortunate to have inherited bonus parents, not step parents. None of us 5 kids ever felt as though we were not loved by our parent’s new partner. This became even clearer when many years later Paul’s daughter Taphne was selected as the most likely match to donate a kidney to Mary. Without an ounce of hesitation, Taphne moved forward and prepared to donate.

Mary and Paul spent some time in Arizona and California before settling in Aurora Colorado. During these years we were again reminded of Mary’s resilience. It is no secret to anyone that she struggled as many do with alcoholism. Time and time she tried to stop, to no avail. She never gave up. Every time she fell off the horse, at some point she got right back on. The day after her death in the midst of our private visitation, Mary was presented with her 15 year Alcoholics Anonymous chip, presented to her by her best friend and sponsor, Jane. She carried that chip with her to her final resting place. During her 15 years of sobriety, Mary helped countless others obtain and maintain sobriety as she was a sponsor to many. It has become most apparent as to the impact she had on others by the messages received from some of the women Mary has sponsored along the way. She was so proud of her sobriety and as a family we were damn proud of her.

In 1998 Mary and Paul returned to Arizona. Shortly after their arrival Mary’s health took a sudden turn. These health problems led to the eventual need for a heart transplant. On April 20, 2007 thanks to the generosity of a stranger and the compassion of their loving family, Mary received a new heart. I will never forget the look on her face the first time she heard her new heart beating in her chest. Mary honored her donor and her new heart and cared well for it for the next several years. As I recently heard her say, “I got 9 great years out of this heart”. When one of the surgeons asked her to discuss what it meant to her to have a second chance via organ donation, for example what did she get to experience that she wouldn’t have been able to experience without the new heart the first thing she said was “my dogs”!

There was never a woman with more of a love for animals, especially dogs. EVER!. She discovered they were the souls that gave her the most joy. While disabled and not physically able to maintain traditional employment, she found she was able to use her spare time caring for the pets of friends and acquaintances and she loved it! There was never a dog that didn’t love her. In fact, the sign near her front door read “I live my life in the company of dogs”. This was very true! As we neared her later days, her main reason for getting better was, “I just want to get back to my dogs”.

Mary suffered a series of setbacks her last year including kidney failure followed by a kidney transplant from yet another gracious, kind donor family, and infections and ultimately further heart failure. Despite her most valiant and courageous fight; she lost her battle on June 26, 2017 in Sun City, AZ.

Mary was preceded in death by her Parents Elmer and Neva Claassen.

She is survived by her loving husband of 41 years plus 1 day, Paul Sherman, daughters Gina and Karin, bonus children Taphne, Brian and Mark, siblings, Robert, Tim, Kathryn and Elva, Grand children Joshua, Andrew, Tyler, Jack, Matthew, Brandon, Alexia, Jessica and Nate and great grandchildren Colton, Easton, Sawyer and Jaxson.

Mary was cremated. In lieu of flowers, family requests memorials be made to

Donor Network of Arizona, Education Fund 201 W. Coolidge St. Phoenix, AZ 85013

Humane Society of AZ

Arrangements under the direction of Advantage Golden Door Chapel, Youngtown, AZ.