In Memoriam: Sherry Markovitz

Story by Dennis M., edited by Brooks

Sherry Markovitz, our dear friend and next-door neighbor, was one of the Pacific Northwest’s most talented and prominent artists. Sadly, she died on October 24, 2025, after a battle with Parkinson’s disease. https://www.emmickfunerals.com/obituaries/sherry-markovitz

Blue Donkey by Sherry Markovitz

Sherry was my next-door neighbor and my very good friend. We had wonderful walks and talks around the neighborhood. One day, our miniature Schnauzer, Stella, escaped out our front door and began running around the neighborhood. Sherry volunteered to help me go catch her. After a block or two, Stella let us walk up to her and then turned to run away again. After the third block, Sherry said, “Dennis, she’s playing with us. Let’s turn around and start walking home. She’ll follow.” And Sherry was right; she followed us home.

Stella is our third dog that Sherry knew. When we moved into the neighborhood, we brought along our first dog, Foxy. At first, Foxy growled at Sherry and Peter’s dog, Tina, and Tina growled back. Sherry, being the wise woman she was, said, “When they wake up in the morning, they are going to realize they live next door to each other, and they will get along.” She was right – they became best friends, although they were both afraid of Sherry and Peter’s chicken, Delores. Later, long after Foxy passed away, Sherry would check out Stella like a library book and take her on long walks. After Tina died, Sherry spent a lot of time at the Genesee dog park where she began sketches for her wonderful dog paintings on cotton sheets.

Sherry and I shared a love of garage sale shopping. She would see either a bag of buttons or something unusual that would not have caught my eye, and she would tell me, “I have an idea for these.” Later, I would find the objects incorporated into her work. For instance, when Foxy passed away, Sherry created a sculpture of her as a gift for me and my husband, Brooks, and I found beads, buttons, a pearl, and a little ceramic dog incorporated into Foxy’s image. She made Foxy’s eyes out of garage-sale marbles.

Sherry was very unassuming. When we first met, I had no idea she was such a well-known artist. One day when I came home from work after an extremely stressful day, Sherry was sitting in her chair in the driveway in front of her house doing bead work. With a big smile, she said, “Good afternoon, Dennis!”

I said, “Hi, Sherry, it was not such a good afternoon for me.” I thought she was just doing a little hobbying and I had the impression that she was not really working. Then, when I attended “Shimmer,” her 2008

art retrospective at the Bellevue Arts Museum, I was overwhelmed with all the amazing work that she had done. I remember her walking by me at the opening, and she whispered in my ear, “See, Dennis, I do work.”

I replied, “Yes, you do, Sherry. Yes, you do.” I truly miss saying, “Hi, Sherry,” and catching up on the neighborhood news with her.