James Sherry

James A. Sherry (Jim), age 67, passed from this life on May 20th at the Kobacker House, in Columbus, Ohio after a courageous battle with cancer.

He was born August 27th, 1948. He was the 3rd son of the late Eugene and Mildred (Shaffer) Sherry from Paulding County, Ohio. Surviving are his wife Peggy (Balliet) Sherry, April (Vershinin) Sherry, Amanda Sherry and fiancé Lane Pinyerd, and precious granddaughter Sophia Vershinin, all of Columbus, Ohio. His siblings include Carl (Terri) Sherry of Oakwood Ohio, Shirley (Frank) Lichty of Van Wert, Ohio and Sharon (Dan) Burnett of Wake Forest, North Carolina. One brother Richard Sherry proceeded him in death in 1992.

Jim graduated from Payne High School with the class of 1966. He proudly served his country as a member of the 101st infantry in the brutal Vietnam War.

Upon returning home, he worked his way through the ranks to be an engineer on the Penn Central Railroad later to become Amtrak. He was an engineer out of Waterloo, Indiana running the train to Chicago and Pittsburgh. He was elected by fellow engineers to represent them as their local chairman for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. He took this role seriously and for minimal pay helped his fellow engineers with their labor disputes. As well, he saved quite a few jobs while negotiating with Amtrak management on behalf of the engineers.

Jim enjoyed spending free time with friends and family on his boat, fishing for walleye in Lake Erie.

If you ever rode on the boat with him, I’m certain he gave you irreversible memories, and there are many memories of the fish he brought home and shared with friends and family.

He was an avid golfer with at least one hole-in-one. His great passion was the outdoors, being raised as a farm boy hunting and trapping with a keen appreciation for God’s creation.

Jim and his classic sense of humor will be sadly missed by all who knew him. A celebration of Jim’s life will be held at a later date.