Cheryl Ann Barber was born on June 11, 1952 in McPherson, Kansas.  After she graduated from high school, her family moved from Kansas to Greenville, Illinois, so Cheri could attend Greenville College from which she graduated in 1974.  She then started teaching a first-grade class in Rantoul, Illinois and she attended a church where she met her husband-to-be.  She and Jim were married in August of 1975 and moved to Minnesota to be involved in a ministry of the Navigators.

Among other jobs, Cheri worked in a day care center and a crafts store until her first child, Matt, was born in 1979.  Following that, sons Chris and Jamie came along, and she worked diligently for many years as a wife, mom, and homemaker.  In 1988, the family moved into a home built by her father in Andover, Minnesota.  Cheri quickly settled into volunteer ministry roles at Constance Free Church.  For the next 30 years, she would go on to lead women's Bible studies, coach other leaders, and assist many women as they sought to grow in their faith.

In 1995, when Jim became a pastor at their church, Cheri also began working part time at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids.  She first worked on 2-East in Unit Support until 2004 when she joined the Radiology Department.  When she retired in 2018, she was an MRI imaging assistant and occasionally worked in the film room.

Cheri had many hobbies and interests.  She enjoyed working on crafts, quilting, decorating the house for seasonal changes, going to plays, and attending contemporary Christian concerts.  But her greatest passion was her vegetable and perennial gardening.  She had a green thumb and a good eye for how to plan a bed of plants or grasses.  Her yard is the kind that when you see it you want to take a tour and just relax and enjoy it.

Cheri will be greatly missed by her family and friends.  She will always be remembered as a friendly, smiling, fun-loving person who served the Lord, her family, and other Christian women.