Cheryl Ann Smalley
It’s hard to say goodbye to Cheryl Smalley who passed away in the early morning hours of Friday, February 24, 2017, after fighting a particularly virulent form of cancer.
No list or resume could do her justice. She was a primary health care provider who worked in low income clinics because she believed everyone should have access to health care.
She was also a whip-smart soul with red cowboy boots and a dry sense of humor who loved music and movies and a good glass of wine.
She worked as a Vista Volunteer in the south, driving back-roads with black and white organizers, cut cane with the Venceremos Brigade in Cuba, helped build houses in Matagalpa, Nicaragua, and treated extremely poor patients in rural Honduras.
She lived a year in Paris in tumultuous 1968 just after the general strike, where
Cheryl Smalley
she smoked Gauloises and spoke fluent French and demanded the impossible.
Cheryl was a tireless activist but not some dour politico, and while she marched against the Vietnam War as well as Donald Trump in the last month of her life, she was also a painter and guitar player, a ringleader of friends and instigator of happy hour adventures.
She traveled the globe, living everywhere from Illinois to Paris to Vermont to Austin to Portland to Seattle. She visited the Normandy beaches where her father landed on D-Day plus 13, and took a handful of sand all the way home.
During the last week of her life, friends gathered around her bedside, helped her struggle with air hoses and morphine, and held her hand.
Cheryl Surfing
One night guitars were played and a great hootenanny broke out where everybody sang along around her bed, and although she was no longer able to communicate at length, she smiled and made it clear she loved the music. A couple of nights later, after an especially trying day, she passed in the early morning hours with friends by her side.
Cheryl is survived by her partner Jim Cullers, a great solid soul, her sister Jane, brother Tad, brother-in-law Heath, sister-in-law Karen, three nieces, a nephew, and Amy Ye, her “little sister” from Big Brothers Big Sisters Mentoring Program.
She leaves behind a great many friends all over the world who will miss her spirit and smile and voice that was sweet and grainy as the flesh of a pear. Cheryl’s annual birthday beach party cookout has always been a highlight of summer and a gathering of friends. This year at Golden Gardens on Saturday, July 29th, the tradition will continue as a celebration and a memorial to her life.
Peace to Cheryl.