Mary Ellen Cherrie was the rare woman whose physical beauty paled in comparison to the pure, loving heart and kind soul that lived within her. Classic and graceful, she embodied the true meaning of gratitude until the moment she died peacefully at home on Friday, Jan. 26.

She was 82.

Mary Ellen Chester was born on Oct. 2, 1941, in Millville, New Jersey, a small town near Ocean City. She spent her summers there as a young girl, walking barefoot on the boardwalk eating saltwater taffy and ice cream cones. Her love for the sand, waves and summer breeze lasted her lifetime.

Like a sweet songbird, Mary Ellen first began singing in her church choir, a gift that led to her many roles in middle and high school theater. She excelled in academics and as a talented singer and dancer who delighted crowds at football games, pep rallies and parades as Millville High School's head majorette. She met Stan Cherrie in homeroom their freshman year. And so began their crush-turned love story that unfolded over several years.

Following high school, Mary Ellen helped manage a clothing boutique while learning the ropes of a small business. She and Stan, a U.S. Army officer, married on Oct. 2, 1965, in Fort Lewis Washington and embarked on a 59-year-journey together around the world.

A nurturing soul born to be a mother, Mary Ellen was the kind of mom who baked homemade cookies, sewed costumes by hand and volunteered at school and scout functions.

As a military spouse, she worked tirelessly in leadership roles supporting other military wives, organizing functions, and ensuring families were prepared for challenges during wartime. A natural leader with a huge following in military circles and beyond, Mary Ellen was known everywhere as "Dear Heart," a moniker she used for people she loved who gave the nickname right back to her.

Having spent part of her childhood in foster care, Mary Ellen developed a deep connection to the importance of family, friendships and caring for those who are less fortunate. Her gifts of kindness played out in so many ways, including sewing hearts filled with lavender and giving them to people in need while she, herself, was healing from cancer.

Although she was raised as an only child, Mary Ellen has many sisters and brothers in arms and functioned as a role model and confidant for so many over the years.

In fact, most of Mary Ellen's best friendships were born and steeped for decades over hot tea that had to be boiled in a kettle and served from a proper pot into proper cups and paired with only the best biscuits.
She was quite a particular lady – doing things like penning letters with a certain kind of ink, wrapping gifts with engineering precision and ironing sheets and pillowcases once upon a time. Her family reveled in her quirks and her joyous, childlike spirit that prompted her to dress up as the Easter Bunny some years or host tea parties for neighborhood kids who called her "Mary Melon."

All of these were among the qualities that made Mary Ellen so endearing to the masses, just like her love of ladybugs, butterflies, and Frank Sinatra. Truth be told, old Blue Eyes was the reason she never fully retired her top hat, tap shoes and dancing cane. She was still raring to go at the sound of a tune at her family's impromptu kitchen dance parties.

Over the years Mary Ellen worked in military museums and volunteered with groups that preserve military history. While in Leavenworth, where she and Stan, a brigadier general, retired in 1998, she was a member of EO, PEO, The Whittier Club and had quite a winning track record among her Bunco babes.

She loved the sunshine, and no surprise was a heartfelt and creative gardener. She designed her own English rock garden surrounded by rich evergreens and chock full of her favorite roses that still thrive with colorful blooms today.

Mary Ellen was a humble, spiritual woman and a self-proclaimed child of God. Even in her most challenging times she would say: "I am not worried. I am in God's hands."

She most certainly is now and forever.

Mary Ellen is survived by her husband, Stan, children, Bryan (and his wife Margaret), Victoria and Jennifer and her two granddaughters, Cailyn, and McKenna. She was proceeded in death by her parents, Rachel and Peter Boetsma, and her guardian, Priscilla Phi.

In lieu of flowers please consider donating in memory of Mary Ellen to Operation Breakthrough or to the Cancer Center at Children's Mercy Hospital, both in Kansas City, Mo.