Cheryl was dependent wife for 21 of 23 years of her husband Bob's Army career. She learned how to be  the "quiet wife" -- as it was known at the time, "If the Army wanted you to have a wife, they would have issued one."

That changed as they served together and she became an asset to their shared military marriage, volunteering with Army Community Service, Red Cross clinics, and the Warrant Officers Wives Association in Germany and stateside. Before his Agent Orange-related death, they had 47 years of marriage: 23 years active Army in the Warrant Officer Corps and 24 years in their separate careers and family of one son.

She received Bob's MOAA membership and become Mount Rainier Chapter and Washington State Council of Chapters Surviving Spouse Liaison, as well as chairperson for Wreaths Across America and Washington State Patriotic Day, and president of AROWS (women's group of the Mount Rainier Chapter).

As a member of MOAA's Surviving Spouse Virtual Chapter and the MOAA Surviving Spouses and Friends Facebook group, she has found great resources to pass on to chapter members and spouses. She considers this her most important position.

She has been recognized by MOAA for outstanding service in her six years of serving as a spouse liaison. In 2023, she was selected as recipient of MOAA's Surviving Spouse Liaison Excellence Award at the council level.

Outside of MOAA, she has been involved with the local Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) group, the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, VA Caregivers Assistance Program, and Gold Star Wives, and through her church in the sewing group and as a Grief Share facilitator. As a retired hairstylist of 54 years, she does visits for haircuts and perms at an assisted living facility and for shut-ins in their homes.