By Melissa Russell, Belmont Voice correspondent
By all measures, Sherry Jones was an extraordinary woman.
As a community leader, a special education teacher, a confidante, and a consummate hostess, she had a profound impact on those around her.
When she died on Nov. 15 at age 80, Belmontonians were stunned. This woman of such energy and vitality, a revered counselor and mentor, world traveler and competitive dancer, who recovered so completely after previous health setbacks — to those who knew her, this just didn’t seem possible.
“My mom didn’t seem 80, she didn’t act 80,” said daughter Sarah Jones. “She was so strong, so lively, in such good shape. She walked every day. It was extremely shocking.”
Any appreciation of Sherry Jones will only scratch the surface of a life lived in service to work, family, church, and community. She had a rare ability to connect with people and provide comfort during difficult times. She was a teacher sought out for her ability to handle the most challenging classrooms calmly. She led the Belmont Garden Club, the Thursday Club reading group, and gave tours as a Boston Symphony docent. She was a gifted quilter and competitive ballroom dancer.
But most of all, she was a loving wife to Ralph, mother to her children Sarah, Bradley, and Natalie, and a doting grandmother who commemorated not just birthdays and major holidays but Easter, Halloween, and Valentine’s Day as well.
Despite health challenges in her later years, she continued to be an inspiration and source of support for her family and her community.
Some of that support came as a surprise to her husband.
“Every time I get a note from somebody expressing condolence, it also includes a little note saying things like, ‘When I went through a divorce and was awfully sad, Sherry came and counseled me.’ I didn’t know that. I knew she was doing all those things, but here are these little interesting insights into her contributions to the community,” he said.
Humble Beginnings
Sherry Harris was born and raised in Muncie, Indiana, one of 11 children in a blended family. Summers were spent at a farm, and she grew up surrounded by cousins and extended family.
“That informed her way of life – everyone gets together and helps,” Sarah said.
The family was not wealthy, and when it came time for college, Sherry benefitted from a scholarship funded by a local banker. She attended DePauw University, a private liberal arts college in Indiana, where she met her future husband.
Sherry took on extra coursework to ensure she and Ralph would graduate together, and they married in 1966, eventually settling in Belmont in 1971.
A Gifted and Compassionate Teacher
Sherry earned a master’s degree from Boston University (and later a doctorate at Lesley College) and began her career as a special education teacher, first at the North Suffolk Mental Health Clinic in East Boston and later at the Walker Home for Children, teaching boys with what would now be classified as a disability of emotional disturbance.
“This is something not all special education teachers would do,” Ralph said. “Each of them had many problems and would be acting out in some fashion.”
She also taught in the Brooklyn public schools and at a school in East Harlem, where she took students on field trips around New York City as rewards for good behavior, Ralph said. She taught special education in Waltham and Arlington and was a substitute teacher in the Belmont Public Schools.
“During a Belmont teachers’ strike, the principal brought all the district special education students together from every classroom, and she handled the entire class. It didn’t faze her at all,” Natalie said.
She was drawn to the most challenging students, particularly those with reading disabilities, and she had a natural ability to connect with them.
“She had a lot of older students, high school students who were reading at a second or third-grade level,” Natalie said. “She would find out what they were interested in and find books that didn’t feel like kids’ books so they wouldn’t feel humiliated.”
“Sherry taught them, of course, but she also loved them,” Ralph said. “She showed that and related well to the kids.”
A Life of Community Service
As a member of the First Church in Belmont, Unitarian Universalist, Sherry traveled to the partner church in Désfalva, Transylvania, to share fellowship and support their spiritual mission. As a passionate quilter who learned from her mother, she created gifts for the church, for anyone who had a baby, and for her children and grandchildren.
“She did not agree with the idea that you make a quilt and put it away or never use it,” Sarah said. “I think that is a kind of symbolism for how she lived her life – very much in the present moment.”
Sherry coached soccer, served on Belmont school PTOs, was a member of the Thursday Club reading group, and ran a La Leche support group for nursing mothers. She is best known, however, for her work with the Belmont Garden Club, serving as president and in many other leadership roles. She co-chaired the Anne Allen horticultural lectures, created a program for new members to visit the historic Underwood Greenhouse, coordinated annual entries to the Boston Flower Show, and was active in Community Planting – taking care of dozens of deltas in town to beautify Belmont.
“She was an enthusiastic participant in club activities, a sincere champion of new members, a thoughtful leader and organizer extraordinaire,” said Sarah Caputo, a club director.
Post-retirement, she and Ralph began ballroom dancing, and she went on to compete across the country and internationally. She and Ralph hosted a dance party for their 50th anniversary.
“She looked like she had been dancing her whole life; she was such a natural,” said her son, Bradley. “People couldn’t believe she was 80.”
A Legacy of Kindness
Rona Conti, an artist and long-time friend, was one of those who sought Sherry’s wisdom and advice.
“She was always very positive and comforting and helpful. She was so generous to people, especially when they were having difficulties,” Conti said. “She was good at keeping secrets. People would tell her things, and she would keep their confidence.”
Priscilla Hughes, a fellow Garden Club member, recalled Sherry’s ability to make everyone feel welcome.
“She always had things like homemade caramels or lemon curd or homemade scones, really lovely things that were just so gracious,” Hughes said. “She was one of the first people to come over and welcome me when I joined the club, and that was just Sherry.”
Her family will continue to support community projects and fund education in her memory. The Harris-Jones Scholarship from Muncie Central High School Alumni Association provides $5,000 to students to support their higher education. Ralph has committed to devoting the rest of his life to finishing tasks she wanted to complete. One of those is making repairs and improvements to the delta on Pleasant Street across from the police station, which Sherry maintained for the Garden Club.
“About three years ago, some driver crashed over it, and public works put some cement blocks on it but didn’t do anything to repair it. It’s a mess,” he said. “I called up the Select Board the day after she died and said, ‘I’m going to do this, one way or another.’”
Conti said she would follow Sherry’s model of trying to help others.
“She was a role model for all of us, so I will try to follow her lead in the small waysI can and just live life every day as much as I can,” she said.
According to her daughter, Natalie, Sherry “filled up every minute of her day thinking of someone else.”
“She was able to provide so much comfort to people going through hard times, and what I hear from them is that she never hesitated,” she said. “She didn’t avoid anything just because it was a difficult subject or a hard thing to talk about. A lot of people found strength and connection with her. Everyone has a story of where she was there, knew what to do, and made people feel like everything was going to be ok. She had a special gift.”
