Cheryl Rae Holgerson's Obituary
Cheryl (Cheri) Rae Downs Holgerson
July 3, 1943 – December 1, 2016
Cheryl (Cheri) Downs was born July 3, 1943 in Willmar, MN; she passed away on December 1, 2016, in Tucson, AZ. Cheri was the only child of Reynold and Sabra Downs of Spicer, MN and the only grandchild of Daniel and Minnie Downs also of Spicer.
Cheri attended Spicer Elementary School and graduated from New London/Spicer High School, New London, MN, in 1961. Following graduation, she attended the Minnesota School of Business in Minneapolis, MN.
Cheri married Richard (Dick) Holgerson on March 31, 1962 at the First Presbyterian Church in Spicer. Dick was serving in the U.S. Air Force stationed in Denver, CO. Upon graduation from the MN School of Business, Cheri joined Dick in Denver and began working for an insurance company, then a TV station and lastly a public relations agency. After Dick was discharged from the Air Force, he and Cheri moved to Moorhead, MN where Cheri was employed as secretary to the Dean of Education at Moorhead State University.
In 1968 Dick and Cheri moved to Detroit Lakes, MN, where Cheri was employed by the Rural Minnesota Concentrated Employment Program for the next 19 years. In 1987 Dick and Cheri relocated to Tucson, AZ, where they were semi-retired. Cheri worked as an administrative secretary for the AZ Supreme Court Foster Care Review Board for the next 25 years at which time she retired from the world of work on August 1, 2012.
Cheri was active in her church (St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, Tucson, AZ) and was known for the lovely greeting cards she made on the computer.
Cheri was predeceased by her husband Dick on December 27, 1994; her parents, Reynold and Sabra; her paternal grandparents Daniel and Minnie; her maternal grandparents Frank and Mary McLouth; her mother and father-in-law Alvin and Impi Holgerson; aunts and uncles Marvel (Martin) Otteson; Lura (Justin) Larson, Charles (Edna) McLouth; Milo (Elaine) McLouth; sister-in-law Janet Barber, first cousins Kermit Otteson, Ilo Collison and James Larson.
Cheri is survived by first cousins Mary Ellen Olson, New London, MN and Bill (Claire) McLouth, New London, MN and Mesa, AZ; sister-in-law Ann (Daniel) Pederson, Willmar, MN; Nancy (Brad) Rogness, Savage, MN; one nephew and seven nieces.
Funeral services will be held at 4:00 p.m. on December 12, 2016, at St. Mark’s UMC (1413 W Magee Rd, Tucson, AZ). Dates for internment of cremains in St. Mark’s Memorial Garden and in the Spicer Cemetery, Spicer, MN, will be announced later.
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