A life of giving – Cheryl Sargent

At the funeral for Cheryl Sargent on Monday 29 June, her sons, Robert and Peter, spoke proudly of their mother’s life of voluntary service in many different capacities across Wangaratta and the North East. She gave more than 50 years of service to the Red Cross, wrote the history of the Wangaratta branch, and also wrote the history of the Wangaratta Aero Modellers, where she had been a member for nearly as long. As well, Cheryl worked 888 shifts at the Wangaratta Police Station as a JP, in addition to shifts at the Wangaratta Library, in Myrtleford and Bright, in other people’s homes and in her own. She had commenced as a JP in March 2003 and only retired this year, 11 June 2026, when she was too unwell to continue. A Guard of Honour to farewell Cheryl included representatives from Wangaratta police, the High Country Library, the Red Cross, and local JPs. Cheryl Maree Johnson was born on 18 December 1951 to Doris and Stan Johnson of Wangaratta, and the family lived on a small farm on Wilson Road before moving to a home in Larkin Street. Cheryl was always helping people from a young age, including caring for her grandmother, Ethel, and other family members. She always loved music and met her future husband, Graeme Sargent at choir practice. They were married in 1971 and had two sons, Peter and Robert, who shared childhood memories of family times spent fishing, flying and camping, especially around Porepunkah. Cheryl worked in the insurance industry as an office manager but gave up work in 1989 to care for Graeme, who had been diagnosed with cancer and who passed away in 1990 after only 19 years of marriage. Cheryl raised the two boys on her own and then went on to become the full-time carer for her ageing parents. She continued to live in the family home until 2010, when she moved into her unit on Phillipson Street. Robert described the unit as full of succulent plants and “paperwork as far as the eye could see”. He said the paperwork was for the many groups she was involved in – the Red Cross, the Wangaratta Show Society, Wangaratta Aero-Modellers – and her voluntary work as a JP. Cheryl had many interests and hobbies. When she worked for Garlick Family Funerals in the early-mid 2000s, in the days before streaming services, her extensive music collection often provided funeral songs from Frank Sinatra, Kamahl, Engelbert Humperdinck, Enya and Chris Tomlin. She was also an avid collector of coins and stamps, a hobby she had inherited from her grandfather. Robert said she was still buying coins and stamps in June of this year. Cheryl was also a member of the Wangaratta Show Society from 1964 to 2026, both entering and helping wherever she could. Most years, she would earn a prize for something she had hand-made in her spare time. There were family trips to the Zoo, Avalon and Mangalore air shows, and Lego Land in the Myer Centre in Melbourne. Peter said that she particularly enjoyed the Lego cities, such as Amsterdam, and marvelled at how they were built. She eventually saw some of those international cities in person when she travelled overseas, where one highlight was meeting a lifelong pen pal in Ontario, Canada. Cheryl greatly enjoyed travelling around Australia as well. Peter recalled one time when Cheryl visited him and his family in SA where they shared a flight with his mother over the Coorong, then to Hindmarsh Island where they landed at a friend’s airstrip for lunch and a toilet break before continuing on to Kangaroo Island, and back to the old Noarlunga Airfield for a quick stop to inspect the progress of Peter’s Auster wings before returning to Calvin Grove, North of Adelaide. Cheryl is survived by her two sons and their wives, Peter and Melinda, Robert and Libby, and her grandchildren, Graeme, Edward, Rose and Isabelle, and her step-grandchildren, Shari, Amber, and Ben. Her life was summed up in a letter from the Red Cross read out at her funeral, which said that “Cheryl’s kindness, strength, and unwavering commitment to helping others will be remembered with great respect and gratitude, and her legacy will continue to inspire us all.”

A life of giving – Cheryl Sargent

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