Sherry Lynn Sprabary was, among other things, a captivating storyteller. Her stories exuded her warmth, liveliness and humor. She was fun and funny, charismatic and full of life. And she loved to be the family historian and storyteller. Sherry possessed a spirited personality and a fiercely protective love of family.  But the laughter…the laughter just seemed to be a part of everything "Sherry".

Sherry's life began on March 9, 1950 in Denton, TX where she was born to Oliver and Georgia Higgs as one of ELEVEN children. Sherry met and fell in love with her own 'officer and a gentleman' at the local skating rink in 1968. She and Johnnie Eugene Sprabary were married on November 2nd of that year and remained devoted to each other throughout their lives. Always together, they seemed to cease being two separate individuals. But the two would become three on June 10, 1969 when their preemie daughter, Tammy Lynn Sprabary, was born to them.

Tammy was beyond cherished. She was the pride and joy of both her parents. And Sherry found her calling when she became a mother. She was wonderful with children and loved them dearly. Unable to have more children of her own, Sherry would add kids to their lives however she could. Always willing to host overnights with cousins and friends, Sherry made sure Tammy would have other children with which to share her childhood. Sherry would also babysit kids - often becoming more of a surrogate mother to them than a babysitter and remained a part of their lives into adulthood. Fostering kids and inviting foreign exchange students to stay with them, Sherry kept the kids coming. Following in her mother's footsteps, Tammy would grow up to become a foster mother herself, providing a loving home to kids in need and, ultimately, raising her own son Robert, who came into her life through the foster care system.

The last few years of Sherry's life were a sad struggle as the ugly grip of Alzheimer's took hold. One by one, a lifetime of precious memories faded away as she forgot loved ones and couldn't find her way to the childhood home she remembered. She never stopped enjoying the friendship of those around her though, and she returned it happily, chatting up all those around her and helping even the other patients and nurses whenever she could. Sherry could just never stop being Sherry.

Sherry passed away peacefully on August 4, 2024 with her daughter, who was her lifelong best friend, at her side. While our hearts mourn her loss, we take comfort in knowing Sherry is no longer suffering – she no longer wonders where home is. She's there – with the love of her life and her cherished mama and daddy.  And, no doubt, she's filling everyone in on what they've missed down here on Earth. Once again, she's sharing all her stories with loved ones she'd been missing so.

Sherry was preceded in death by her parents, loving husband, two sisters (Louella and Patricia), three brothers (Billy Leon, Howard and Ricky Lee).  She is survived by her daughter Tammy and grandson Robert, four sisters (Kathy, Anita, JoNell and Judy) and one brother (Jerry).
Visitation will be held on Wednesday evening, August 7th, from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. at DeBerry Funeral Home (2025 W. University in Denton, TX).
The funeral service will also take place at DeBerry Funeral Home on Thursday, August 8th, at 10:00 a.m. followed by a graveside service at Oak Grove Cemetery in Crossroads.


Memories
By Lifelong Friend, Janice Lindsey

Sherry was my best friend for 68 years until she went home to be with Johnnie. We met on Charlotte St in Denton Texas, we were next door neighbors. I think we moved in after they were already there. We loved to play together, making mud pies with lots of china berries in them, we even had to take a bite of them, but I don't recommend them. We got along pretty good for a long time but then we started bickering a lot, to the extent that our daddies put up a fence. Oh, that hurt us very bad, and we never bickered again. Then the daddies felt sorry for us one day and took it down and that made us very happy. Then one day we were told that they were going to move. I remember crying so hard that night then I was told the next morning that they were just moving a short distance from us so we were still able to play together, just not all day long like before. Then when I was 10 years old we moved a million miles away (actually it was around 35 miles). We would spend a week at each others' houses during the summer. One memory I have is we went on a picnic , not just any picnic but a special one on the railroad track trestle. My little sister, Myrt was with us. We were having a good time until we started hearing the train whistle blowing!! We got off so quick that we forgot to grab our lunch sacks. This is just a couple of the memories I have with Sherry but I think the oldest ones are the best because they are what caused us to become best friends for life.


By her sister, Anita Higgs
The Night the Moon Fell into the Ditch
Talking with Tammy, the other night  we got to reminiscing about some fond memories  we've had with Sherry. I told her one of my favorites & probably oldest memory with her mom when I was about 4-5 years old. We lived on Ave G back when it was consider country with dirt roads.  My aunt Lou, uncle mason, Uncle J, Linda & Dennis, & my uncle Charlie, Lois & their 3 boys all lived within hollar distance from each other. Yes we would go outside & hollar to one another. We had a phone but it wasn't for us kids. It was one of those old ugly black rotary phones, nothing like cell phones that have become attached to kids now days. Our phone was only for adults & everyone didn't even have one.  Anyhow,  it was a great time growing up so close to some of my cousins. We would all play hide-seek, chase lightening bugs & crawdad fish together & what else was there, homemade vanilla ice cream.

But back to my story, it was a hot summer night & Sherry, she was about 10-11 years old, but the oldest playing with us that night. She says to the bunch of us, I think it was Judy, Ricky, Dennis, me &  Kathy &  Frankie (don't know where Frankie lived or much anything about her other than she was an Indian girl that hung out with us. But sherry being the oldest there on this night was our boss & she told us that we weren't not playing hide-n-seek that night bc we've got an important job to do.  So, she says to follow her & off we all went barefooted of course bc we only wore shoes to school & church. But we followed her to the corner where our aunt Lou & uncle Mason lived. The ditch on that corner seemed to always have water in it & at the top it had a small curb made of cement, didn't make much sense but was a spot to sit & stare into the ditch below, which we did a lot. But sherry points down to the water & says, "look the moon has fallen into the ditch".  So we all leaned over & sherry says y'all  get down there & start digging it out.  She sits me & kathy on that curb so we can watch from overhead. We were too little to do much other than follow them where they went.  But I can still picture it as clear as if it was yesterday.  It was clear night with a full moon so big & bright & best of all summertime so we could stay out till mama hollar for us to come home. The moon was shining in the water & it was clear to all of us that it was stuck in that ditch. So they got busy digging.  I've never seen more water flying even in the worst storms as it was that night.  And for the life of me I don't know how none of them didn't get their head chopped off.  But they didn't get the moon out but it wasn't from lack of effort. We walked home disappointed & drenched in muddy ditch water running all down from head to toes. Well all of us that is except Sherry, I don't think she got a drop of water on her. We didn't even play hide-n-seek because they were so tired. We just sat outside to dry & be attacked by mosquitoes so that mama wouldn't get mad at us for being wet & muddy. But to this day I never knew if sherry was messing with us or if she really thought that the moon had fallen into that ditch. But I know there were at least 6 of us that believed it had. I never understood why none of us didn't look up to see that the moon was still in the sky. But I'll tell you this for certain, I had the most FUN with this bunch even though we did some goofy things, we were never bored. But I do think we were probably the MOST gullible kids in Denton county. Thank you Sherry for all my great memories with you. You will be missed but never forgotten.
LOVE, your sister & friend ! Anita

Please click the link below to view the live stream of the service.

https://venues.vimeo.com/1711997845132?lang=en-US