Yachats was an easy fit for Sherry Dickinson who had spent most of her early life living in a small town. Growing up in Northwest Iowa she has fond memories at her grandfather’s vacation house on Lake Okoboji where the family would gather every summer. At 19 she moved to Arizona for college; her natural curiosity and tendency to live in the moment resulted in attending a few different colleges before she graduated with a double degree in History and German from ASU.
During college, she met and married an “Arizona urban cowboy”, Loren, “grandson of a one-time sheriff of Coconino County” with deep Arizona roots. Loren and Sherry’s two children can claim to be 5th generation Arizonians on Loren’s side.
After a year of living in Hawaii, they returned to Arizona where they lived full time until 2008. Loren owned an architectural firm and Sherry worked for American Express before leaving to raise their children and to help in Loren’s business. Later she spent several years working for the Scottsdale Unified School District and for some of that time co-directed a summer enrichment program for preschool and elementary students.
Sherry and Loren were introduced to Yachats through Arizona friends in 1992. Eventually, they purchased land in Quiet Water where they designed and built a summer home. They became full-time residents in March 2015. When part-time residents, they became involved with the Trails Committee which introduced them to View the Future and other Board members.
Sherry became a member of the View the Future Board in 2016. She describes her motivation as a personal concern for what the world will be like for future generations; that people may have taken too many gifts of nature for granted. She recognizes that our community exists on land that belonged to First Nation People. That land, she describes, was abundant with water, salmon, wildlife, and vegetation. The taking of the land and the development of it by non-tribal people has not always worked to sustain nature’s balance. Sherry wants to be a part of inspiring the community to preserve, conserve, protect and restore the natural environment
She enjoys hiking, reading, and gardening along with her Board responsibilities as the primary recording scribe of meetings. She is also often found helping others in need in quite useful ways. Sherry is a gem.
