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During the day she worked for the Provincial Government as a Systems Analyst – travelling around the Province to train others. As if that wasn’t enough to keep her busy, she spent countless hours volunteering in the theatre community.
From an early age, she was involved with Metro and over the years she was on the board, produced many shows, stage crewed several and played the role of Mrs. Holley in a 1981 production of The Bed Before Yesterday. For some 20 years she also ran the Metro box office, driving from the West End every night of performances to cheerily greet patrons at the window. Initially she was accompanied by her faithful dog Jericho, and later by her “box office dog” Bridget, who delighted many patrons by pushing out her cute nose looking for some affection.
When the journey became too much, Cheryl volunteered for several summers at TUTS – helping to organize the box office and helping in the office. Always generous with her time and talents, she helped many other smaller theatre groups, and, unbeknownst to many, also spent many Decembers answering children’s letters to Santa. Cheryl set up the Metro website before most other groups had even thought about it, and ran it at no cost until quite recently. She also acted as Metro’s Publicist during the last few years.
Theatre – especially musical theatre – was Cheryl’s great love and passion, and the crowning glory for Cheryl came last year when she was surprised at the Jessies to be presented with the Mary Phillips Award for meritorious service to the theatre community.
Her positive attitude and constant cheerfulness in the face of everything life threw at her remains an inspiration to all of us who knew and loved her. A more fun loving, kind, intelligent and generous person would be hard to find and we will surely miss that bright smile and wicked sense of humour.
Rest in Peace, dear Cheryl.
Alison Jopson
Vice President, Metro Theatre Board
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