Cheryl Harte McAllister, 83, of Lebanon passed away Monday. She was born in Alhambra, California on January 27,1939. She was born into the loving home of Elmo Floyd and Dorothy (Carlson) Harte. In her autobiography that she penned as a 13-year-old she said, “A little over 13 years ago on a Friday evening in January 1939 a lusty cry was heard in the baby department at Alhambra hospital followed by a father’s happy exclamation, ‘Hear that?… that’s mine!’” She continued, “…and so Cheryl Harte made her first debut in Alhambra. I was the first child and also the first grandchild, so naturally my parents and grandparents were very proud of me. As far back as I can remember, I had a very happy home life. She also recounted that at the age of 5, in 1944, her father left them to go to fight as a SeaBee in the Navy stationed in Okinawa during World War 2, and her mother went to work at Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach, CA as a draftsman in the engineering department. This led to a lifelong love of her country and the freedoms that we cherish so dearly.
While she was in high school, her family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the young missionaries who helped teach her family the gospel, was Lawrence B McAllister. For Cheryl and Larry, it was love at first sight. After Cheryl graduated from high school, they were married on August 31, 1956, and started the journey of their 66 and a half years together. Cheryl, being from Southern California, had planned to go to USC for college. When she explained that to Larry, he replied, I know even a better school that we can go to… BYU! They were off to Provo, Utah, and her lifelong devotion of all things BYU began. (Yes, that was our family through the years wearing our BYU shirts at the Oregon, and Oregon State athletic contests!)
Cheryl graduated with her education degree specializing in Math, and Science and began her teaching career that lasted over 50 years. Through the years she added a master’s degree from UCSB, and later another from Ball State in Genetics. She always loved to share with us that since her first year of kindergarten, she had never missed a year of school. Most of her career was at Lebanon High School where she settled with her family in 1969. Her students would make the comments that “she was hard, but fair. You always knew where you stood with her”.
Her top priority in her life was her family. She loved being a wife, and mother. Her devotion to her husband was extraordinary. She and Larry had 7 children. She was always intimately involved in helping each one of them be the best they could be with whatever activity they were pursuing.
Cheryl had so many interests and hobbies. Her endless energy was just amazing to all of us. In addition to her love of teaching, she excelled at so many things. She was a fabulous baton twirler in her youth. She combined her teaching skills with her talents of twirling, and organized baton twirling groups. Through the years, she taught hundreds of girls, and marched them in every parade available. Many of her descendants are phenomenal baton twirlers. She was very proud of her oldest daughter Cherie Sue’s, and the groups accumulated trophies, and accomplishments.
She loved Genealogy. She was able through the years to trace her ancestors back many generations. Also was able to help countless others with their genealogies. There was always family excitement with each new piece of information to add. We loved seeing how everyone was related to us and discovering famous cousins.
She loved farming her little 8-acre farm. She grew every possible fruit and vegetable and became an expert horticulturist. She loved cherry season the best. She loved to share how the pitting machine pitted the cherries, and her secrets of making the best cherry pies. She loved visiting with all her repeat customers, some that had been getting her cherries for over 50 years. She has a room full of ribbons from the county fairs that judged her pies the best.
She was a voracious reader. She has a personal library of thousands of books. She even felt the need to make the community have better access to books and ran a Deseret Book store from her home for many years.
She loved writing in her journals and documenting her activities. She has rarely ever missed a day of writing in her diary. Along with that she loved taking pictures. She has left her posterity hundreds of thousands of documented special events. From very early on, we all learned to gather for the pictures. She also won many ribbons and awards for her artistic photography.
She loved to travel. She, and Larry, joined almost every BYU Alumni trip for many years. She visited each of the 50 states multiple times, and almost every country around the world. She loved studying different cultures and collecting souvenirs to help understand each one better.
She was a lifelong dedicated member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her teaching talents extended to her church service as well. Many, many years she taught the gospel doctrine classes. Even in her declining health the last couple of years, she enjoyed the zoom meetings of church each Sunday.
In her last years she was plagued with ever worsening Dementia, and pain in her hip, and joints. But, for the most part, her long-term memory stayed intact, and she was able to have many wonderful conversations of all her life’s wonderful memories. She took her hardships in stride and taught us all the meaning of enduring to the end. She was able to pass peacefully on January 16, 2023, with her granddaughter Masen at her side. We believe families are forever, and we look forward to getting to be together again.
She is survived by her husband, Lawrence B. McAllister, and children Cherie Sue (Randy) Schachterle, Dale (Kelly) McAllister, Mark (Stacy) McAllister, Laurie (Rick) Miller, Evan (Rebecca) McAllister, and Kirk (Mandy) McAllister. She is also survived by sisters, Sande Harte, and Debra Harte, as well as many grandchildren and great grandchildren whom she loved. She was preceded in death by her parents, and a daughter Kathryn Louise.
Viewing will be 10:00 am Saturday January 21st at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Lebanon. Funeral service will follow at 11:00 am. Graveside service will be 11:00 am Monday January 23rd at Kanab City Cemetery in Kanab, Utah. Sweet Home Funeral Chapel is handling arrangements. www.sweethomefuneral.com