Beryl Jean Erickson
Feb. 4, 1927 - Feb. 2, 2018
Beryl Jean Erickson went to be with the Lord on Feb. 2, 2018 just shy of her 91st birthday. She was a resident of Ceres for the last seven years.
A Celebration of Life will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 17 at Grace Community Christian Church, 3754 E. Service Road, Ceres.
Beryl was born to Mary Penniman Sweeney and Christian Petersen on Feb. 4, 1927 in Pomona, Calif. She grew up in the Los Angeles area and later moved to Oxnard. After finishing high school, she went to work as a secretary at Naval Construction Battalion Center at Port Hueneme.
On a night out to the movies she met a sailor named Sherwood LeRoy Erickson when asking him to have his friend stop kicking her seat. After the movie they struck up a conversation and he asked to walk her home. They began dating and were married in his home state of Minnesota on June 21, 1948. After the birth of their first daughter, they moved from Minnesota back to Oxnard where the weather was warm.
Beryl and Sherwood had three more daughters before moving to Simi Valley in 1960; their last child born a couple years later. Beryl lead a very busy life raising five daughters, taking them to ballet lessons, swimming lessons and softball games where she kept score for her daughters' teams. She also took them to track meets and baton twirling lessons in addition to being a Blue Bird and Girl Scout leader.
Beryl was active in her community while living in Simi Valley where she was a member of the Doctor's Hospital Auxiliary and a member of the Order of the Eastern Star Chapter # 637, holding the office of Ester. Beryl continued her service to the community when the family moved to Livermore. She became active in the Simper Fidelis Chapter of Eastern Star and also in Assembly #246 International Order of the Rainbow for Girls as Mother Advisor.
Beryl enjoyed attending Modesto Nuts baseball and Stockton Heat hockey games as well as theater and live performances at the Gallo Center for the Arts. She celebrated her 90th birthday in the historic town of Columbia where she rode in a stagecoach, posed for a picture as a bank robber and made her own birthday candle.
She is survived by her daughters, Mary Chambers of Albany, Ore., Bernadette Rizzo of Nevada City, Calif., Juliana Mazurek of Livermore, Leslie Lambert of Ladson, S.C. and Annette and son-in-law Joseph Byrne of Ceres; and 12 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by infant son Sherwood LeRoy Jr., her parents and beloved husband Sherwood.
In lieu of flowers the family requests remembrances be sent to the Stanislaus Animal Services Center, 3647 Cornucopia Way, Modesto CA 95358, or donating through its website at www.stanislausanimalservices.com
-Ceres (Calif.) Courier
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
