Sherrie Dee Chmelka left this world peacefully on March 30, 2021, in Sioux City, Iowa.  The family would like to invite friends and family to a Celebration of Life reception on April 17, 2021, from 2 to 4 p.m. at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Morningside.

Sherrie was born July 14, 1935, to Bernice Elizabeth (Adams) Phillips and Clyde Richard Phillips in Sioux City, Iowa. Sherrie grew up in the Morningside area of Sioux City. She and her younger sister Janice were very close and enjoyed many childhood activities together. Sherrie attended Whittier Elementary School, East Junior and East High School, graduating in 1955. She enjoyed art, English, Latin and sewing classes. Sherrie also carried the “E” for the East High band her senior year. She attended Morningside College for two years and was a member of the Delta Zeta sorority. Sherrie worked for her father who owned Morningside Electric Company during this time.

She met the love of her life, Merton Chmelka, at the Flamingo in South Sioux City in 1959. They were engaged that year at Christmas and were married on March 26, 1960, in Sioux City. After a honeymoon in Acapulco, Mexico, they had two sons, Joseph and Mark. They enjoyed a wonderful life together and celebrated 61 years of marriage on March 26, 2021. They were members of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church and Morningside Country Club. They enjoyed dancing, social events with their many friends, weekends at Lake Okoboji and camping. Sherrie loved hosting weekly family gatherings and holiday meals at their home. She was a Cub Scout Den mother, seamstress, and worked in retail sales. She was an amazing wife to her husband, Mert and a very loving mother to “her Mark and her Joe,” as she affectionately referred to them.

In 1993, Sherrie and Mert relocated to Sun City, AZ for the next 23 years. They enjoyed time with family living there, making new friends and the warm weather. In 2016, they moved back to Sioux City to be closer to family and friends. Sherrie especially enjoyed time with her grandchildren, great granddaughter Ava and her constant companion, their puppy Annie.

Sherrie is survived by her loving family, husband Merton, and sons Joseph (Lisa) and children Jared Chmelka and Bella Root; and Mark (Julie) and children Trey Chmelka, Laiken (Casey) and great granddaughter Ava Seubert, and Breanne (Ben) Steenhoven; two great grandchildren arriving this summer, her sister, Janice Ebbensgaard of Sun City West, AZ, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, a brother Douglas Phillips, her half-sister June Gerhts, half-brother Robert Bursick and her grandson Jacob Chmelka.

If you wish to make a memorial donation, please donate to the Siouxland Humane Society in memory of Sherrie Chmelka.