Sheryl Ann Leonard

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It is with deep sadness that the family of Sheryl Ann Leonard (nee Stephens) announce she was called home to her be with her Heavenly Father February 14, 2024.

Sheryl began her lifelong relationship with God in her mid teens when she met Christian missionaries while living with her family in Santiago, Chile.

After her family’s return from South America, Sheryl attended nurses training and upon graduating as a Registered Nurse, she traveled from the Queen Charlotte Islands (now known as Haida Gwaii) to Montreal and then back to the west coast.

Sheryl’s quest for a deeper connection with God led her to a self-proclaimed group called The Movement of God, or “the Move”. The group’s communal life was established from the ground up as a working farm, located in remote Northern BC. This small
society focused heavily on flawed teachings preparing for them for the end times.

As one of the few formally trained medical personnel in The Move, Sheryl was the
community’s official Midwife and played a vital role in delivering babies and providing postpartum care to the mothers and children. Sheryl’s lesser known talents included singing, playing guitar and writing. She composed a beautifully written, self published personal memoir about her time in The Move, called “To the Wilderness and Back”.

Although the teachings of The Move proved to be false, there is where Sheryl met and married Art. Sheryl gave birth to 2 daughters before leaving The Move for good and
relocating to Northern California where their son was born.

After 6 years in California and the dissolution of her marriage, Sheryl moved back to Canada with her children. Reunited with her parents and sister, Sheryl settled in, ready to continue her nursing and pursue a writing career.

She did not immediately return to nursing, but spent nearly 20 years working at an ob/gyn office. Without the shift work of nursing, she was able to be home every evening to care for her children while they were little.

Her sacrifice and efforts were rewarded, when at nearly the end of her career, she got a position on the postpartum care unit unit at the Grey Nuns hospital. She would later
describe this as her favorite place to work and felt blessed that she got to retire from a lifelong nursing career on such a high note.

When her kids were grown, Sheryl and her sister Gail lived together where she
continued to write and care for their mother until her passing. When they decided to
retire, Gail relocated to England to be near her only child and 3 grandchildren, while Sheryl moved to Lacombe to live with her middle child, Catherine. Even enjoying her life of leisure, she was still hard at work finishing several manuscripts and publishing two novels that were sold on Amazon.

When asked what her retirement plans were, she replied, “I just want to keep house and not have to go anywhere”. Knowing her fondest wish was to stay home, her family and friends honored that wish by bringing the parties and gatherings to her – and she
enjoyed every one of them! She would often say that she got to live the life she had
always wanted during her retirement.

Sheryl felt a kinship with animals, especially dogs and found what she described as the “best dog anyone could ever have” during her golden years. Though the short, but stout terrier cross named Thor started out as Catherine’s dog, he decided that Sheryl would be his person. Without discretion, Thor started moving his dog toys into her room and
despite Sheryl’s resistance because he was, after all, someone else’s pet, she was won over completely. She never missed an opportunity to soak up all the love he would give to her and vice versa! They were inseparable to the end.

Sheryl is predeceased by her parents, Thomas and Kathleen Stephens and her eldest brother Tommy (Joanne). She is survived by her children, Esther (Jeff), Catherine, and Richard (Jenn), her grandchildren, Rory (Destiny), Naomi, Kalem, Avery, and Tiana and her great grandchildren Marcus, and Elyza. She is also survived by her sister Gail, and brother John (Norma), as well as numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

The family kindly request that, in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Red Deer Hospice Society in Sheryl’s name. Any cards of sympathy can be sent to:
PO Box 579
Delburne, AB
T0M0V0

There will be a private family gathering to celebrate her life but to honor Sheryl’s wishes, there will not be a public funeral or memorial service.

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11 Condolences

Scott Kirk

Although we hadn’t spoken in many years, you played a large part in my life, directly and indirectly, resulting in almost of all my favorite life moments and memories . Thank you Sheryl for you kind heart and your amazing family. You are very much missed.

Gail

Remembering Sheryl

My sister, Sheryl Ann, was born in Baie Comeau, Quebec, on September 6, 1947, joining her brother, Tommy, 5 and me, not quite 1. We later learned that our close births made us Irish twins, and throughout our lives we were known to say we were ‘twins for 19 days’! This year will be the first one when we aren’t. ?
We actually lived in Trinity Bay (Baie-Trinité) on the north shore of the St Lawrence River, but Baie Comeau had the closest hospital. Trinité was a company town run by the St. Lawrence pulp and paper corporation, where Dad was a forestry engineer.
Several moves followed over the next few years, and Dad took lots of home movies from these years, which have been digitized for the next generation.
The first family move was to Three Rivers (Trois Rivières) where Sheryl attended school from K thru 5, (and where baby brother John was born) then on to Town of Mount Royal (Mont Royal) for grades 6 to 10. Then, in the year before she was about to graduate, Dad accepted a job with the World Health Organization (WHO) of the UN and the family (minus Tom who at 21 was now on his own, and me, who stayed back to graduate), was off to Santiago, Chile, in the spring of ’63. Sheryl, out from under my shadow (her words!) reveled in Santiago Academy, an American Chilean school where the well-to-do, ex-pats and diplomats sent their girls for a good education. She made some dear friends there and picked up Spanish quite quickly! Although she had become a Christian years earlier, through reading Treasures of the Snow, it was among the English missionaries and Chileans at the Anglican Mission in downtown Santiago where her faith bloomed. We grew even closer as sisters, and when mom also became a Christian, there was great rejoicing!
The three year idyl in Chile came to a close when Dad accepted a new posting abroad, but this time, with her girls ready for higher education, Mom decided it was time to move back to Canada. As it happened, the family returned by way of a six week tour of England! Another lovely adventure! Sheryl often said that flying over London made her feel that she was coming home!
Back in Canada, it was on to her nursing studies. In those days, nurses learned on the job, and were paid, and she had excellent training at the Royal Victoria Hospital, in Montreal. Her first job was in the Queen Charlottes (now Haida Gwaii) in British Columbia, which was not quite in the back of beyond, but being on the west coast, put her in the way of some happy visits back and forth with me while I attended college, first in San Francisco and then in Seattle.
When her job in the Charlottes was over, she returned to Montreal and became involved with a very zealous group of Christian young people. She remembers it as a cult, but some good things emerged from it, not the least of which were the dear friends she made and kept to this day, the six songs she composed and sang, the raft of babies she delivered as the midwife at Headwaters, and the compelling memoir she wrote, To the Wilderness and Back. I think that the title may have been inspired by her favorite war hero (Audie Murphy) turned actor’s autobiography To Hell and Back.
Headwaters Ranch was where she met her husband, Art. They had some rocky times, but he did provide her with three beautiful children, Esther, born at Headwaters, Catherine, born in Fort St John, and Richard, born in California. After deciding they could no longer remain at Headwaters, Sheryl returned to California with her husband, determined to make her family work. Despite her best efforts, it did not, so after the divorce she decided to return to Canada and ended up in Leduc, Alberta, where her parents lived down the street from her new home. Sheryl quickly got a job with an ob/gyn doctors practice in Edmonton, giving her normal office hours work, while grandma and grandpa were able to mind the kids after school till she came home.
As the kids grew, Sheryl was growing more desirous of getting back to proper nursing, and it so happened that Covenant Health was about to run a refresher program for nurses wanting to work in hospitals again. Happily, Sheryl got in and eventually was hired at the Grey Nuns in south Edmonton. She was back in her element! She also began to write again and her dreams of being published were realized, first with a memoir of her time in Headwater’s and then two romance novels.
In 1989 after what had been a lovely cruise for us three girls, Dad went to have a hip operation. Sadly, on the day he was to be discharged, he suffered a massive stroke, and this was before they had discovered the drug that could reverse its effects. So he became mute, and wheel chair bound and had to be in assisted living, until his death in 1995. This had taken a toll on Mom as well, so plans were made to move her in with me, now that I was living in a house in Morinville.
Once her children were grown, moving out, and starting their own families, and after my own reversal of fortunes, Sheryl decided to join the senior singles in Morinville in our beautiful house. The only downside for Sheryl was her long commute on the highway into Edmonton. She insisted it was better than the highway from Leduc into Edmonton, but in the winter, there were some hairy drives! Still, they were mostly happy years. We even managed a few cruises when I worked at the cruiseShipCenters, including a last one with Mom to Alaska. We rented a wheelchair for her use but she insisted on walking for much of the time!
Mom passed away in 2004 and Sheryl and I began to moonlight as publishers and authors. Later that August we attended a writer’s conference in Hawaii. We both loved it, but after a few days, Sheryl, who had been offered a job in Hawaii when the kids were quite young, understood why she couldn’t have survived on a nurses salary there. Still, they don’t call it paradise for nothing!!
Life went on. After her dog Scooby died, I decided to look for another dog, as Sheryl always loved dogs. We soon found our little Max, a Maltese/Havanese mix, and aside from his nervous nature, he was a delight. Finally, in 2014, with our house/life insurance about to expire, she and I decided to retire. We sold our lovely house, and reluctantly went our separate ways! I moved to England to be with my daughter and grandchildren; Sheryl & Max, moved in, first with my sister in law, Sheila, for a few weeks or so, and then with Cath. Thankful for video chats for our physical connection, we thought we had all the time in the world. A few years ago, John had even offered her a trip to the Uk with his family, but then Covid hit and none of us went anywhere!
I was so thrilled when Sheryl told me Cath was buying a house, and eventually they moved into their own home in Delburne.
In my last video chat with her, Jan. 26 or 29, she told me how much she missed me and it’s a memory I will cherish until I join her in glory. She and I had a running joke about her always being first, being so competitive. As she was so often in this life she has now led the way into the next.
Hugs to you, my precious sister. I’ll see you in the morning…

Wendy Schellenberger

Was so glad to have spent 13 years working with Sheryl in ob/gyn. We shared many things together sometimes having fits of giggles. It is an honour to have known her and I look forward to meeting her some day in heaven. My deepest sympathies to her family.

Diane Nauth

Esther, your tribute to your Mom is truly beautiful! Please know I did witness the beauty within her that you described. Please accept my sincere condolences. Sheryl, “May flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest.”

Pirkko Gosselin

I’m so thankful to have known your dear mom. Your tribute to her is beautiful and well deserved. May you all be comforted to know she is with her Lord Jesus. My prayers are with you.
Love, Pirkko

Esther Fedoriuk

I could not have asked for a more gracious and wise mother. She gave the best council during my most troubles times. Loved me through the storms and celebrated every victory. It makes my heart ache that her gifts often went unnoticed and how her beauty sometimes went unseen. I’m at peace now. Mom, you are in heaven, all you are will be realized. Love you.

Sonja Yenkana

My heart is glad and sad all at the same time. I’m glad that I had a close relationship with your beautiful Mom. I’m glad that her strong faith carried her through to her end here on earth into the arms of Jesus.
I’m sad because she will be missed by us all.
Deepest sympathies to you all, her wonderful family, who brought her joy.
Grace and peace to you.

Amber VanderLeest

She had the heart of gold. Even though she hasn’t been a nurse for quit sometime she always offered the best advise and opinions when I needed after my babies. Sending many prayers and hugs the family way. A beautiful soul gone to soon.

Blanche Buck

I am so very sorry for your loss. I send my love and condolences to all of the family.

John & Norma Stephens

What a beautiful tribute to your mom! We miss her deeply and continue to pray comfort for your family.