Obituary of Sheri Lynn Steelman

Sheri Lynn Steelman was born on January 21st, 1958 and was the proud daughter of Elayne and Elmer Perlman. She was the middle child in between her older sister Marci and younger brother Larry. After being born with a hole in her heart, her life was never a healthy one. Her life was guided by health concerns but that never stopped her from working or caring for her family. She met her husband of 26 years, Robert, in 1981 at a JCC singles event. She always wanted children but had difficulties conceiving. She became pregnant with her first daughter, Samantha Renee, in 1986 and youngest daughter, Sarah Michelle, in 1990. They were both unexpected and born late and she would joke that we didn't want to leave her. She loved her husband and daughters but she loved her pets just as much. Her first, Norman, came into her life 1984 at 6 months old and passed away December 20, 1997. An hour later, she received a call from a family friend about a litter of puppies asking if we wanted one. She wasn't ready but knew her daughters were so she put up a fake list of qualifications-male, apricot, toy poodle-and one puppy fit every item on her list. We went to meet him and immediately fell in love. We needed an N name, after Norman, and she thought of Noah and it fit him perfectly. Sheri was a registered nurse and loved her work but had two other passions she wished she could pursue-art and Psychology. Luckily for her, Samantha was a beautiful artist as well and Sarah shared her love for Psychology. She told Samantha that, while she was pregnant, she dreamed of her creating artwork and signing it Samantha Renee and knew that had to be her middle name and, to this day, that is how Sam signs all of her pieces. Sheri and Sarah's relationship around Psychology formed differently that hers with Sam. At the age of six, Sarah got sick with a rare neurological disease known as Guillian-Barre. Sheri felt a connection with Sarah based on their lives being run for them by illness. They began watching shows and talking together more and learning of the similarities they had in thinking within the realm of Psychology. Sheri used to tape shows for Sarah that dealt with her favorite issues of addiction counseling as well as sexual and gender identity and taped shows pertaining to death and grief so they each could share each other's loves within the field. Sheri was always a caring and selfless person who never knew her own influence on others. She had tons of friends from high school and her young adult years-Scott Wald, Sharon Shapiro, Sherry Besser, Alan Putterman-and ones from when she moved to Las Vegas in 1993-Mindy and Sheppy Herskovic, Larry and Linda Copeland, Bob and Linda York-and their respective children-Shayna, Julia, Danyel, Skyler, Lexi. On the day of her passing, May 14th 2011 at 7:35 in the morning, her daughters Samantha and Sarah found her in her bed. They picked her up to take her to Sarah's UNLV graduation of which she was so excited to attend. And even though she didn't make it to the ceremony, those who loved her most will know that this went down exactly as she would have wanted. Sheri never thought she'd be lucky enough to pass away peacefully in her sleep, and she was. In the end, despite all of the fear she had over a long and painful process, she was granted with the privilege of passing exactly as she wanted to: happy and peacefully. This is all any of her loved ones could have asked for her; the perfect end to an amazing woman's life.