Cheryl “Cher” Lynn Kothrade-Waller

Cheryl “Cher” Lynn Kothrade-Waller, 72, drew her last quiet and peaceful breath on June 19, 2023, at home in Vero Beach, FL, in bed, her adoring husband beside her, after a brave, decade-long struggle against Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP). PSP is a rare neurological disorder within the Parkinson’s family of diseases.

Cheryl was born on June 3, 1951, in Milwaukee, WI, to Walter Frederick Kothrade and Ruth Esther Mundt Kothrade, both deceased.

Cheryl grew up in the Milwaukee, WI suburb of Greenfield, was active in the Job’s Daughters (Bethell # 6) and elected their Honored Queen. She graduated from Greenfield High School in 1969 and was a member of The National Honor Society. Cheryl then attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and earned a B.A. in Classical Languages in 1973. Cheryl moved to the Washington, DC area and pursued her graduate studies at The George Washington University, where she received an M.A. in Laboratory Science, with a Special Studies concentration in museum conservation in 1977. Cheryl applied her love of museum artifact preservation and her graduate education at both the Milwaukee Museum and at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC.

In the early 1980’s, Cheryl took a different career path and entered the field of computers and Information Technology. Cheryl had a successful 30-year career in IT with the federal government. She was an IT Project Manager for the Department of Labor when she retired in 2012.

Cheryl married the love of her life, Bill Waller, in 1998. They lived for 16 years in Silver Spring, MD, less than a mile from the DC line. Cheryl and Bill enjoyed 16 happy and active years in Silver Spring, where they took advantage of all that DC and its environs had to offer. They also loved the ocean and treasured their vacations at the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Cheryl and Bill bought a home in the Walker’s Glen development of Vero Beach in 2008, and they moved there full time in 2014.

Cheryl was a Renaissance woman with many talents. She was a gourmet cook who loved to entertain and serve scrumptious meals to her family and friends. Cheryl also enjoyed painting and gardening. A voracious reader, Cheryl typically had 2 or 3 books on her nightstand at once in the pre-Kindle days.  And she was a wiz at Sudoku. In her later years Cheryl loved to take strolls around the lake in Walker’s Glen with Bill and their precious Havanese puppy, Gussie, and to feed the fish and turtles and chat with her neighbors along the way.

Cheryl savored all of life’s sweet fruits, but her truest and greatest love was her family. Besides Bill, her loving husband of 25 years, Cheryl’s lovely smile and gentle soul will be dearly missed by her family. Cheryl is survived by Bill’s daughter, Amber; her brothers Dale Kothrade (Suzanne) and Dean Kothrade (Pam); her sister-in-law Bonnie Thomas (Tom); her nephews Kendall Kothrade (Abby), Warren Kothrade, Marshall Kothrade, Christian Kinders (Melinda), Casey Kinders (Teresa), and Michael Thomas; and her nieces Nicole Granados-Saric (Zoran), Kelly Genske, and Lauren Wilson (Brian). Cheryl is also survived by many grandnieces and grandnephews.

Cheryl will also be mourned and missed by her many great friends from all over the U.S., and by her wonderful neighbors and friends from the Walker’s Glen community and elsewhere in Vero Beach, FL.

There will be a celebration of Cheryl’s life at Thomas S. Lowther Funeral Home & Crematory, 1655 27^th Street, Vero Beach, FL 32960 on Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 1:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions in Cheryl’s name to the VNA Hospice of the Treasure Coast, or to the Steinway Concert Series at Silo Hill.

VNA Hospice of the Treasure Coast

Here is their link:                    Ways to Give – VNA & Hospice Foundation | Vero Beach, FL

Steinway Series at Silo Hill. The Steinway Series holds concerts at Silo Hall, outside Baltimore. The Series was created to show the extent to which music can benefit those who have Parkinson’s. All profits from the Steinway Series concerts are donated to organizations that support Parkinson’s research.

And here is their link:             Steinway Series at Silo Hill 

Arrangements are by Thomas S. Lowther Funeral Home & Crematory, Vero Beach.