Mary Sharon "Sherry" Phillips

On the afternoon of August 15, 2025, after 105 days without the love of her life and husband of almost 70 years, Mary Sharon “Sherry” Phillips, devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and friend, fulfilled her most cherished dream by returning to her Heavenly Father to be reunited with her eternal companion and sweetheart, Chick. Upon returning to her heavenly home, she also joined other dear family members who preceded her in death – her beloved daughter Cali, grandson Tyler, great-granddaughter Claire, great-great-grandson Wesley, her sister Gay, brothers Danny and Tim, and her parents. Sherry’s passing was peaceful and quiet, and she was surrounded by many of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was 88.

Sherry was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on May 8, 1937, to Lorum Dan Seegmiller and Afton Savage Seegmiller, the eldest of their six children. Although her home life was less than ideal, she had fond memories of her childhood, especially the summers, when she recalls spending countless hours wading in the irrigation ditches, picking wildflowers, and wandering the large apple orchard that surrounded her family’s home on the outskirts of Salt Lake City. She especially loved to sit in an old tree house in the orchard and read. Like her Grandpa and Grandma Savage’s home, it was one of her quiet and peaceful places. Growing up, Sherry had a keen awareness that she was descended from the most valiant of Mormon Pioneers, who had sacrificed all to establish a Zion in the Salt Lake Valley. For her, this was an honor she kept close to her heart.

Because of her innate devotion to her Pioneer heritage and the support of good friends and neighbors, Sherry thrived as a devoted disciple of Christ and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Throughout her childhood and teenage years, she knew she wanted to create a life that she did not have growing up, with a good and honorable husband and an orderly home filled with children. In her teenage years, she gained many of the skills she would use later in her life by caring for her younger siblings, sewing her own clothes, and working in a variety of part-time jobs. At age 16, while on a short trip to visit family in Las Vegas, she met Charles Lewis “Chick” Phillips, and, as she told it, that chance meeting changed her life forever. It was love at first sight for both of them and, after a two-year courtship, they were married in the Salt Lake City Temple on June 1, 1955.

For their honeymoon, Sherry and Chick traveled by train to Monterey, California, where Chick was stationed in the Navy. Their first child, daughter Cali, was born there. After returning to Salt Lake City about two years later, second daughter Tauni joined the family. Within 15 months, and after moving to a home on 6th South in Bountiful, son Matt blessed them with his arrival, and Sherry found herself with three children, the oldest barely 3. Although challenging, she recalls this being a very happy time in her life: she had a loving and devoted husband, a beautiful and peaceful home, and healthy, happy children. Fourth child Michael was born a few years later, and it was shortly thereafter that Sherry and Chick moved to Portland, Oregon, where Chick had accepted a new job. In Portland, the family continued to grow, with two more children, son Tyler and daughter Holly, completing Sherry’s family.

Sherry was always there for her family. She was a fierce supporter and protector of her children. The class parties, school plays, dance recitals, choir concerts, baseball games, track meets, and graduations she organized, supported, and attended certainly numbered in the many hundreds. The brown paper bag lunches she prepared, each with a child’s name written on it and set in a row on the kitchen counter each morning, were in the thousands. While raising her family, Sherry was always active in the community, serving as a PTA president and member of various boards and advisory councils that sought to improve education and the community for everyone.

As her children grew up and began leaving home, Sherry built a career as a real estate agent, Certified Financial Planner, and insurance underwriter. This allowed her to support the family in a way she had been unable to previously, and she was immensely proud of that. Sherry and Chick returned to live in the Salt Lake City area in 1995 and eventually retired, enjoying the past many years with their ever-growing posterity.

Sherry was a true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ and served faithfully as a member of His Church. She was a Stake Missionary, Young Women’s President, Ward and Stake Relief Society President, Sunday School teacher, and even an early-morning seminary teacher. She simply loved teaching. She also spent countless hours supporting and helping her husband in his many demanding Church callings.

More than anything else, Sherry was Mom. She herself wrote that the happiest days of her life were when she was a young mother raising her beloved children. She built a home for her family that was safe, peaceful, and orderly. It was always a place where extended family, friends, and neighbors felt welcome and gravitated to.

It seems sadly insufficient to memorialize a life with a few paragraphs. We find great joy, however, in the fact that Mom wrote a beautiful and complex life story of love, devotion, faith, and sacrifice onto the hearts of her children each day for almost nine decades. That story surpasses mere words. In turn, it is being passed on to her posterity, recited over and over through selfless acts of service and lives well-lived.

Sherry is survived by her daughter Tauni Hill (Steve), sons Matt (Lisa), Michael (Becky), and Tyler (Sherie), daughter Holly Kerr (Rand), sisters Roxanne and Sally, son-in-law Peter Grimshaw, 21 grandchildren, 43 great-grandchildren, and 1 1/2 great-great-grandchildren.

We wish to thank the staff of Creekside Assisted Living in Bountiful, Utah and Ovation Hospice for the kind and tender care they provided Sherry in the last few months. We offer special heartfelt thanks to Tuesday Anton of Ovation Hospice, Sherry’s last good friend in this life.

A private family viewing and service will be held on Saturday, August 23, 2025, followed by interment at the Farmington City Cemetery.