Obituary of Cheryl Udy

Cheryl Jean “Cheri” Udy died June 29, 2020, at home in Annandale, Virginia, after an 18-month battle with lung cancer. She was 68.

After a long career in administration and staff support, she retired to pursue her loves of animals, especially dogs, children and nature, as an Extension Master Gardener at Green Spring Gardens in Fairfax County, Virginia.

Cheri was born at Great Falls Air Force Base, Montana (later renamed Malmstrom AFB) to Frank and Jacqueline (Perusse) Udy in September 1951, the third of five children.  Cheri’s mother was originally from Great Falls, Montana, and her French grandfather ensured that Cheryl quickly became known to one and all as Cheri, a loving nickname that lasted a lifetime.

Her father, an Air Force aviator, took the family to posts throughout the world. A four-year stint in Japan inspired in Cheri a fondness for the culture, despite its best efforts to defeat her attempts to learn the language. Throughout her life, she would watch with fascination the Japanese Sumo wrestling competitions she stumbled upon while clicking her way through cable TV’s endless offerings.

The family’s last duty station took them to the Pentagon in Northern Virginia, and Cheri graduated from McLean (Virginia) High School in 1969.  She attended Radford College in Southwest Virginia for a year before relocating to Alta Loma, California, where her parents had retired. After her father’s death, her mother moved back to Montana, and Cheri settled in Northern Virginia where most of her siblings lived. She would remain there until her death.

Cheri’s multifaceted professional career demonstrated over and over her willingness to try new things. She started in personnel at the Jesuit Claremont College in Pomona, California, before retiring from ITT Industries in 2013 during one of the company’s many downsizings. She tried her hand with  a “van conversion” company, toyed with building at Miller Construction, managed shuttle schedules for the U.S. Department of the Interior, helped countless families close on a mortgage for multiple mortgage companies in the area for 14 years, helped with the 2000 census, and served customers of Federal Express as a senior service agent. 

Her employers treasured her persistence and organization, skills she tried not to overuse while at home where she earned a reputation as a pack rat, unwilling to dispense with anything that might later be of use to someone somewhere sometime.

In 2015, she completed her nature studies with the Fairfax County Park Service and was certified as an educational master gardener at Green Spring Gardens. She was active in redesigning the children’s garden at Green Springs Gardens, and at Wolf Trap where she helped keep up the gardens and helped introduce children to plants and nature with the Camping at Wolf Trap program.

During her lifetime, she gravitated toward animals – she even sold homemade dog treats at the Falls Church and Mosaic Farmers Markets for the Chase Your Tail Bakery -- and rescued Golden Retrievers (Sandy Girl, Andrew, Lady Bird, Firpo, Sam, & Clara) and a Jack Russell (Haley). In her last months, she found solace from the visits of Frank, a terrier cross rescue owned by a friend who often came to visit along with feeding treats over the fence to the neighbor’s terrier rescue that was skittish trusting people.

The Community Horticulture Supervisor at Green Spring captured her spirit in a message announcing her passing:

“She had a child-like wonder when encountering nature. Everything was "amazing" and would elicit a "Wow", whether it was a praying mantis egg sack, a monarch butterfly or the taste of a plump strawberry. … I will miss her upbeat attitude and how she always found the best to see in people. I sure hope all dogs go to heaven because she loved dogs as much as she loved gardening. I like to imagine her surrounded by them!”

She is survived and mourned by Tracy Blount, her partner and wife of 29 years, and a wealth of friends.