Sheryl D'Ann Loveland

is honored with a Brick from Lisa and Laura Loveland.

With all of mankind, towards the light,
I shall raise the children
High, high, laughing for joy to the sun. - Yang Lian

My mother, Sheryl Loveland, was never expected to be anyone's heroine. As the middle child in a military family, being herself was enough. What nobody realized was that being herself was exactly what would make her into a heroine.

At the age of 17, she graduated from high school early. College was not an option that was open to her at the time, so she married, with hopes of soon starting a family. Having always wanted children, this was an exciting prospect. Within the next few years, her daughters Lisa and Laura were born.

She was always an energetic and involved mother, and she loved her children endlessly. When money was tight, which it often was, she would do what she had to do to make sure we were taken care of. At times, she worked nights in a restaurant or baby-sat children in our home. She was always looking out for us and we were her number one priority. For that, we loved her back in equal measure.

Knowing that life could surely hold more for her, she went to college at Friends University and majored in Elementary Education. Being a full-time student, mother and wife was difficult, however she faced the challenge and excelled. By graduation day, she had maintained a 4.0 GPA and a family. She then began teaching, and in her first year won a city-wide award. Teaching was truly her calling, and she connected with children in an amazing way. To this day, after 10 years of teaching, former students write or call her, sharing their lives.

In her way though, she again was searching ... there had to be more! So she began the pursuit of her Master's degree at Wichita State. Again, she was fulfilling the duties of teacher by day, student, mother, and wife by night, and again she was succeeding. She graduated with her Master's in Curriculum and Instruction in 1998, again with a 4.0 GPA.

Although it seems as if school was the biggest part of Sheryl's life, that was hardly the case. She always made time for us, creating much time to be our mother and to raise us well. Above all else, she took pride in us, her children. Being such a fantastic person herself, she held high expectations for us. We knew that we could do anything we set our minds to, because she stood as the greatest example of that. She has been our mother, our teacher and our friend.

She devotes herself to living with full force. She will try anything once. She has flown planes, traveled all over the world, whitewater rafted, and backpacked in the wilderness. Adventure has been the key to her wonderful life. Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe once wrote 'Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." Sheryl Loveland lives by Goethe's words.

September 15, 1998