Sherril Twitchell

Sherril Dean (Stewart) Twitchell

Sherril D. Twitchell passed away peacefully at home under a full moon in Chubbuck, Idaho, on Wednesday evening May 6 from complications due to ALK positive lung cancer. She had celebrated her 70th birthday in January 2020 in neighboring Pocatello.

Sherril was born in Big Spring, TX in 1950 to Gilbert R. and Colleen Stewart (née Davidson). Named for Jackie Sherril, legendary Texas A&M football coach, her cousins remembered her as the most beautiful baby they'd ever met. She suffered and fought polio before the Salk vaccine was produced. She recovered, but would face post-polio syndrome later in life. The young family welcomed a baby sister and moved to San Antonio before relocating to Central California in 1964. Sherril attended Caruthers High School before the family moved to Tollhouse, CA. Sherril graduated from Sierra Joint Union High School in 1968, where she was voted Homecoming Queen. She enrolled in Fresno State University where she met her husband, Jerry Morgan, Jr. from Ione, CA.

They started a family and moved to the Stewart property in Tollhouse. Sherril gave birth to three healthy boys in the early seventies. She would later say, that as a young mother, she and her three boys "raised each other." Divorced in 1979, she moved to Clovis, then in 1980, she moved her three boys to be near her family in Real County in southwest Texas. In 1984, she and her boys moved to San Marcos, TX, where she attended Texas State University. She worked in university departments around classes as she studied towards a degree. Though she did not graduate, she was a lifelong learner and pursued her passions in many different ways.

In the 1980s, Sherril became the first sworn female police officer in Seguin, TX, and moved her family there. She fought discrimination in the recruitment process and gender bias on the force, but she made her mark and opened the door—many female officers followed her including former police dispatchers. In 1985, she moved to Boerne, TX to be closer to her family and joined the police force there. After 6 years in Texas, she moved her sons back to Northern California in 1986.

Back in California, Sherril focused on service work and education: teaching disabled students, working with a refugee service in San Francisco part time, and later as the administrator for POST-Peace Officer Standards Training at Consumnes River College, where she help educate half a generation of law enforcement officers. But as her home nest emptied, she reinvented herself again. She began a career as a healer, traveling around the western states. She earned licenses in Massage Therapy and became certified first as a Reiki Teacher, later as a Reiki Master. She also pursued new passions like Scottish country dancing classes and performances and tenor drumming in Scottish Pipe Bands in California and Idaho. She loved the Boise Highlanders Pipe Band where she was in the drum corps. She traveled to competitions all over the west. She loved to celebrate her Scottish heritage (Stewart and Davidson) with family and friends and she loved a single malt scotch on occasion.

Throughout the 1990s, she settled in or lived in scores of places, even if temporarily Sacramento, Idaho, Oregon. When her son Garrett welcomed her first grandchild, she settled back in Fresno to be close by. She practiced massage and perfected grandmother-hood. But life on the road called her back. In her travels, Sherril met Gregory R. Twitchell and they were married in 2000 in Salt Lake City Utah. They continued to live a nomadic lifestyle traveling the western states. She earned certifications in Reflexology and the first level Qi Gong teaching certificate. She was ordained as a minister and she performed the wedding ceremony of son Garrett and his wife Christina in 2005, as well as the marriages and vow renewals of many of her friends.

More grandchildren were soon welcomed into the families. Sherril's favorite role was that of Bobo, the grandmother. When Greg's family duty called and his kids began adding to the pack of grandchildren, they moved back to Idaho. Sherril continued serving people becoming an independent caregiver for home health and hospice on top of her wellness practices. She often travelled to California to serve clients and parlay a trip to see her sons and grand-children. She loved the open road.

As post-polio syndrome made it harder to remain on her feet for massage, and other standing practices, Sherril poured her energies into eastern medicine practices of meridian therapy and Qi gong, pursuing yet more certifications. Sherril was developing a wellness center in Pocatello for this practice and had a room set up for a few remaining massage and Reiki patients...she now practiced on a rolling vintage doctor's exam stool to manage her post-polio pain.

In March 2018, Sherril was diagnosed with ALK positive non-small cell lung cancer. Sherril always had a mild disdain for western medicine. She was now back in school, studying how to beat cancer with diet, Qi Gong, homeopathy, aromatherapy, and other non traditional methods. She fought bravely for two years, and she returned to her Qi Gong Wellness Center (QWC) to restore and reopen her practice. She leaned into education from her Qi Gong master and learned new forms. She was truly happy living her "happy life" of Qi Gong practice, healthy eating, and mindfulness, paired with modern and advanced cancer treatments and practices. This was the way she wanted to face cancer. In the end, nearly all of her doctors and specialists commented they had never seen a more positive cancer patient.

Sherril was preceded in death by her parents, Gilbert Ray and Colleen Davidson Stewart. She is survived by her her sons, J. T. Morgan III (Tres) of Inglewood, CA, Garrett R. (Christina) Morgan of Sacramento, CA, Justin W. Morgan of Fresno, CA, husband Gregory R. Twitchell of Chubbuck, ID, his adult children Jeremy (LoriLee) Twitchell of Driggs, ID, Jenny Twitchell of Ririe, ID, Willy (Ronda) Twitchell of Rexburg, ID, sister, Vicki L. Wimberly of Leakey, TX, nieces Sloane (Jim) Wimberly Wendell of San Antonio, TX, Talore Wimberly of Ruskin, FL, as well as thirteen grandchildren, very many loved aunts, uncles, cousins, and extended family in the Davidson, Kinard, Stewart, and Twitchell families, and a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, named Henrietta (Hetty), after her grandfather.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in memory of Sherril Twitchell to one of these organizations she supported.

ALK Positive Lung Cancer Group —
https://www.supportalcf.org/alk/SherrilStewartTwitchell

Tibetan Nuns Project — https://tnp.org/products/tribute-cards/

WEAVE, Women Escaping a Violent Environment —
https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=weave&id=85

Sherril Twitchell will be cremated in accordance with her wishes. A private service will be held for immediate family. A memorial for her Texas family is being planned for a time when safe to travel and gather in larger groups. A virtual celebration of life will be held for her Qi Gong and spiritual family at an appropriate time.

"It is never too late to live a healthy, happy life."
—Sherril Stewart Twitchell

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