Brenda Sherrill

Our beloved, Brenda Townsend Sherrill peacefully passed from this world on November 7, 2025. Her life and adventures began on December 10, 1939, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Lenoir, NC, the first born child of Laura Abernethy and Folger Townsend. There she was raised with her four younger sisters, Joie, Laura, Natalie, and Shelley. The sparkle in her eyes could have told you something right from the start, that underneath those ringlets stirred big dreams and questions and ideas, of all the places those would take her, of the extraordinary life that would unfold.

 Throughout high school, she blazed through every goal she dared reach for, voted Homecoming Queen, President of Student Council, Best All-Around, and more, but two particular wins in those years were pivotal, shaping so much of the rich life she lived - a Rotary youth exchange scholarship for a summer in Spain, and the heart of Robert Sherrill, love of her life, and husband of 64 years.

 In the summer of 1957, by train and ship, she journeyed far away to a country she'd never been to, with a language she'd never spoken, the first of her many bold adventures. From this stemmed her passion for the Spanish language and an endless curiosity for people and cultures from across the globe, both creating currents that rippled throughout her life, from her treasured international friendships, to her years teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) and Spanish, to her many summers spent in her favorite Mexico.

 In 1961, with her great wit and determination, she was able to graduate from Duke University in just three years to marry Robert and join him at the Kodiak Naval Air Station in Alaska as he finished his service in the U.S. Navy. When Robert married that beautiful debutante and president of the FHA, he might have pictured some idyllic, conventional life, bound by a white picket fence, but he'd not yet met the many marvelous versions of Brenda to come, who paid no mind to fences.

 When the rest of the young wives were planning the start of their families, Brenda was planning a three month tour of "Europe on $5 a Day" in a brand new convertible MGB. Mr. & Mrs. Sherrill had places to see and things to do before settling down. In her own due time, came three babies - Courtney, Catherine and Alexander, beautiful homes, and years of family life in Winston-Salem, NC, Greenville, SC, and Atlanta, GA.

 And what a life they had, equal parts steadfast tradition, haphazard adventure, interwoven with wonder, and joy. With her own mix of the old and the new, Brenda marked birthdays, holidays, and seasons with a classical rhythm, but with a drumbeat all her own.

 Her celebrations were legendary, at least in the memories of those who lived them.

Every year, family friends looked forward to her spectacular Christmas parties and marveled at how she got it all done. Some might say waking children on Christmas morning with sparklers inside the house was a fire hazard, or that freshly dug-up moss in Easter baskets was messy and unsanitary, but not Brenda. She was making magic.

 Within the calendar's rhythm, she also found spaces for refuge and grounding, creating cyclical returns to places that rooted us in spirit. Where others might have seen a two room "shack" buried deep under a scrub of live oak by the Topsail Island sound, Brenda saw a hidden treasure, and that it was our special summer hideaway for long, slow weeks of finding our place in sand, ocean, and changing tides. We may have never arrived on time to church, but we arrived over and over, year after year, where, in clouds of incense, the ancient liturgy, rites, hymns, and prayers of the Episcopal Church seeped into our bones.

 How wonderful were all of these experiences in those moments, but also what enduring gifts they left in their wake: traditions to carry on, rituals, practices, and places to return to for warmth, love, joy, and peace, but also a sense of adventure with which to discover and forge our own new paths through life.

 Brenda delighted in the arrival of each of her four beautiful grandchildren: Julianne, Graham, Penson, & Avery. She poured great love and energy into each, as long as she was able, and in doing so, passed all of her gifts further down the line. Being "Baya" was perhaps one of her most cherished roles of all.

 Brenda's children extended well beyond her own precious babies. They included hundreds of students throughout her long and rich teaching career that lasted until well into her 70s. From first grade in Kodiak, Alaska and Winston Salem, NC, to Christ Church Episcopal School in Greenville, SC, to various public school classrooms across Atlanta, to middle school in Texas, to many years at the Dar-Un-Noor Academy in Atlanta where she finished her classroom teaching, she nurtured the lives of many different children. For Brenda, each class became an opportunity to embrace and understand the life experiences of others, so different from her own. While her impact on her students is immeasurable, it is hard to say who learned more, she or they.

 Brenda also became a surrogate "mama" or "family" to many other special people that landed in her path, by choice or chance, loving and supporting them through transitions, challenges, or just a chapter of life. From mentoring children through Big Brothers Big Sisters, to outreach for new immigrants, to neighbors, community members, and newfound friends, she changed lives. Especially meaningful to her were the connections she made with families from Russia, Syria, and Afghanistan, through welcoming them and helping them to settle and thrive in the United States, while also learning from them.

 She held such admiration for their strength and determination to build a new and better life, but also an awareness of how their diversity and culture added so much to her own. Brenda had a unique heart for seeing, protecting, and uplifting the vulnerable and marginalized, and a stubborn belief in her ability to make a difference. A teacher was not what she did, but who she was, always working to bridge the gap between what is and what could be.

 Driven by curiosity and an open heart, Brenda lived a life less ordinary, progressively coloring more and more outside the lines. She was not a rebel, so to speak, refusing to follow the guidelines, but rather did not seem to notice that there was an instruction manual in the box to begin with. What could look like bravery was often just not knowing that there was a reason she should be afraid. In so many different ways, this freed her to live the life she imagined, and with so much excitement and joy.

 From one of Brenda's favorite novels:

 "When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams - this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness - and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!"

Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes

 That's how Brenda saw life, as it should be in her dreams. She leaves behind her beloved husband, Robert, her beloved children and grandchildren, Courtney, Scott, & Julianne; Catherine & Graham; Alexander, Anna, Penson, & Avery, and her two devoted feline companions, Max and Jake. We will miss her fiercely yet know without a doubt that she will live on and on, in us, and in so many with whom she shared her amazing journey.

 Her family extends tremendous gratitude for her wonderful caregivers of Visiting Nurse Private Home Care. Charika and Lola, your presence and loving care of Brenda made a difference to us all, and we are forever thankful for you.

 A memorial service will be held on Saturday, December 6, 2025, at 3 pm at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 435 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA. A reception to celebrate Brenda's life will follow in the parish hall.

If you cannot attend in-person you can live-stream the service through these links:

https://stlukesatlanta.org

https://www.youtube.com/@StLukesAtlanta/featured

https://www.facebook.com/stlukesatlanta

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to honor Brenda’s life can be made to:

El Refugio

St Luke's Episcopal Church

Episcopal Relief and Development