Cheri Jones

Jun 29, 2013 | Obituaries 2013

Cheryl Ann (O’Brien) Jones started her journey to Heaven on June 28, 2013. Cheri passed away due to complications from duodenal cancer initially diagnosed in late 2011. She lived her last 18 months on this earth the same way she did the first 50 years . . . with her heart full of love for her family, especially her husband Scott and children Jack and Julia, as well as family throughout Kansas and California. Cheri was equally devoted to her clients at State Line Animal Hospital. She admired her partner Dr. Vern Otte like a father, and she adored and was grateful for the love and support of her work colleagues to the end.

Cheri was born in Alameda, California, and valedictorian at Alameda High School. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Davis and proceeded directly to U.C. Davis School of Veterinarian Medicine (the first ever to be chosen to proceed directly from U.C. Davis undergrad to U.C. Davis’ vet school). Cheri was working at an externship in Santa Cruz, CA when she met her future husband Scott. They married in 1992 and started their first home together in Kansas. Cheri received her kidney/pancreas transplant less than a year later. By the late 1990s, Cheri and Scott started their own family with the arrival of Jack and soon after Julia. Cheri practiced veterinary medicine for 20 years, and was a charter member of the Leawood Rotary Club.

Cheri is survived by her devoted husband Scott, and beautiful children Jack and Julia; her mother Karen and father Robert (Buck) O’Brien, sisters Joyce (John) Craig and Kelly (Harry) Langdon, and nieces Mary Jane and Gina Mae Langdon; aunts and uncles, Mary (Paul) Kooyman, Ron (Elaine) Kooyman, Mary (Hugh) Tebault, Bill (Nancy) O’Brien, Earl Reid, and predeceased by her grandparents Eleanor and Casey Kooyman, aunt Barbara Reid and uncle Neil Kooyman; in-laws Marge and Ed Jones, sister-in-law Debbie (Doug) Engelland, brothers-in-law Doug and Tyler Jones; numerous nieces and nephews; as well as dear friends in Kansas, California and across the country.

Funeral service for Cheri will be held at 2 pm on Monday, July 1^st at the Church of the Resurrection, Wesley Chapel in Leawood, Kansas. Graveside service and burial on Wednesday, July 3rd at 2 pm in Sterling, Kansas. Cheri requested donations in lieu of flowers be made to Midwest Transplant Network at www.mwtn.org or Hushie Pet Memorial Fund, 2009 W. 104^thStreet, Leawood, KS 66206.

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