Sherry Lynn Ruotsi

My Sister
By Mark White (Brother)

Words that could be used to describe Sherry, Ornery, Willful, Crafty, Strong, Funny, Challenging, Private, Independent.
My favorite time as a kid with my sister was definitely at the Moore family reunion back in 1986, I’ll never forget the trip, first we went to the water slides outside of Lake Chelan, then we went to the lake, I’ll never forget the young guy at the campground that was madly in love with her. But Sherry was like that, it was easy to love her and many did for many reasons.
Sherry was a gracious host and a fantastic cook, our time together during the Christmas of 2006 was especially special to me. We had not seen each other in years, the Christmas was a special time as it was the first time since we were children that I got to spend time with Sherry, Tom Ruotsi, my dad Doug, my step father Mac, his wife Anita, Clayton, Cheyanna, my Daughters Ellen and Elly.
I’ll never forget the prime rib she cooked, the smell of the fresh coffee she made, the jokes, and the thoughtful discussions. The look on the faces of Clayton and Cheyanna when they opened their gifts, and the stories we shared of time that we missed over the years. That year it snowed too so we had a white Christmas, it’s a time together that I will never forget.
Sherry was highly instrumental helping me understand that life is not fair, that you have to roll with the punches. She had personal toughness, and I learned some of that from her, but I also learned that you don’t always have to be tough, especially with, or on family. Dealing with Sherry also helped me learn diplomacy, as it was a requirement to make any kind of headway with her if you wanted to overcome a disagreement or find common ground.
The thing I liked about Sherry the most was her love for her kids, Clayton and Cheyanna. In the early days when it was discovered that Clayton had aspersers’ disease, she made sure that Clayton knew that his form of autism was not a disadvantage, but at the same time, took a careful approach to make sure others understood it for what it was. She loved Clayton deeply, even if some times it was tough love. With Cheyanna, they were like the dynamic duo, they did so much together, and she loved her deeply too. The photos of her holding Cheyanna seems to communicate so much, the pride she felt when talking about her would just resonate through her voice.
A funny story about my sister when we were young is sometimes she would tell me to kick her, I would often protest that I did not want to because she would kick me back and then tell our mom that I kicked her first, and thus I would get in trouble. She was such a rascal, she would even eat the Flintstone vitamins and then blame me. She was always ahead of me, no matter what I did, or how I did it, she knew me better than I knew me.
Years from now I’ll be reminded of her every time I encounter someone who throws me a smirk and a sarcastic comment. Or when someone looks me with squinty eyes and tells me just how much they don’t care. Or when someone uses that quick little laugh when they have an ingenious idea. With Sherry her mannerisms really defined her. She was that rare person who did not take abuse from others, and was quick to remind anyone that she could handle herself, something that I think must have been inherited from our mother, who she was so like so much.
If I could tell her one last thing, it would be very simple; Sherry, I love you.