March 29, 2024

Sheryl Keenan

Waukee

Sheryl Keenan, 91, of Waukee, formerly of Maloy, died Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017, at Clearview Home in Clearfield.

Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 13, at the Christian Church in Clearfield with Sheldon Henderson officiating the services. Burial is in Rose Hill Cemetery in Blockton. Open visitation will be from noon to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12, at Armstrong Funeral Home, 205 W. Monroe St., in Mount Ayr with family present from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Friday at the church. Memorials are to Saint Malachy School in Creston and Waukee Public Library. Online condolences may be left at www.armstrongfh.com.

Sheryl, daughter of Elmer Eric and Edna May (Ham) Henderson, was born Nov. 30, 1925, at Waukee. Sheryl’s father died when she was 6 years old and the family continued to work the farm. At the age of 16, Sheryl graduated from Van Meter High School in 1941. Sheryl went on to further her education at Drake University where she graduated in 1944 with an elementary teaching certificate, eventually earning her Bachelors of Science in education. Sheryl began teaching at Cambridge in 1944 and taught at Van Meter School from 1947 to 1951. She taught in Lenox School from 1951 to 1954.

On Dec. 28, 1953, Sheryl married Lee Keenan in Bedford. Sheryl and Lee moved to a farm near Maloy where they would live out their married years together. Sheryl took some time off from teaching to raise her family and in 1963, she returned to teaching first grade at Mount Ayr Community School, retiring in 1990. After Lee died March 27, 1995, she moved to Waukee.

Sheryl is survived by her daughters, Lynn (Paul) Baker of Creston, Cheri May of Waukee and LeAnn Keenan (Dave Storer) of Harlan; grandchildren, Melissa Baker (Rocky Malloy) of Cedar Rapids, Meredith (Don) Wulf of Jewell and Samantha Hornback of Waukee; great-grandchildren, Londyn Wulf and Hattie Wulf; and in-laws, Jim Mitchell of Des Moines, Karl Wurster of Mount Ayr, Marion (Donna) Keenan of Bolivar, Missouri, and Virginia (Fred) Siverly of Clearfield.

Sheryl was preceded in death by her parents; husband Lee; siblings, Thayne (Shirley) Henderson and Marilyn Mitchell; and in-laws, Beryl and Dorothy Hall, Bob and Betty Keenan and Jean Wurster.