Cheryl Meyers
October 24, 1944 - October 20, 2015

Cheryl M Schlesinger Meyers passed away on October 20, 2015, at the age of 70. She was born Oct 24, 1944, to Beatrice Goldberg Schlesinger and Jerome Paul Schlesinger. She was their first child. Cheryl was raised in Hackensack NJ. As a child Cheryl loved horses, but she may have outgrown that when she smelled them for real. Cheryl graduated from Hackensack High School in June 1962, where she was active in the Band, playing clarinet and piano.
Received a BA in Education at Patterson State College in June 1964. Her dad bought her an Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible as a graduation present. While in college she helped her Dad run his corner store, taking over so he and her mother could take two-seek summer vacations. She enjoyed the interactions with the customers and often expressed a desire to have a gift shop of her own. Throughout college and thereafter she was active with a Jewish social group. A bit of a matchmaker, she paired her cousin Michael with her best high school friend, Linda; they later were married. The three were a bundle of laughs!

She taught elementary school in New Jersey for a few years, received a Master's degree in social work, and went on to help the unemployed with their benefits.

She married James Meyers in spring of 1971. They relocated to Texas in 1975 where Cheryl was hired by the Texas Employment Commission. She was widowed in 1978 after their move to Garland. She later relocated to Cedar Hill.

Cheryl was highly skilled in the rules of employment and employment benefits and she became a benefits hearings adjudicator, a fancy name for an administrative judge. During her early years on the job, she would hold hearings in an office, but technology made the job mobile and she spend the later part of her career in her home office, conducting hearings by phone. After 37 years with the agency she retired in 2012.

Cheryl loved jigsaw puzzles and crossword puzzles. Her brother used to send her a new jigsaw puzzle every year for her birthday, challenging her with those with the most pieces, or the most difficult patters. Cheryl also loved good food. Lobster and NY deli corned beef and pastrami among her favorites.

Cheryl was a very warm person, but could also be feisty. She knew what she liked and what she wanted, and rarely hid from conflict. Never to get taller than 5'-1, she was chubby as a child, and fought with her weight for her entire life. Although raised in a Jewish family, Chery was not observant; but she never forgot her heritage.

She collected Waterford crystal, admired and kept her father's art collection, and loved to play pool. It was at a pool table that she met Red Young, who, it turned out, was the true love she'd been seeking. Two very different people on the outside - Cheryl a Jew from New Jersey, Red a self-proclaimed "Outlaw" who left Mississippi in his early teens to roam the world, found happiness with each other for over 30 years.

Cheryl is survived by her sister Marcia Schlesinger, her brother Maurice Schlesinger and her life partner, Everett "Red" Young.

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