Cherry Lynn Skiles

“My name is Cherry. Like the fruit.” Cherry often introduced herself this way. To know her was to know joy. Her smile and love for life radiated through her.

Cherry Lynn Chulos was born in Oregon City to Lois and Chris Chulos on June 04, 1954. She was the third of six children. She grabbed life by the horns growing up…quite literally. In high school she ran track, but also rode her horse Tioga and rode bulls in the Canby Rodeo. One of her oft repeated memories was of taking first place for her bull riding.

After her graduation in 1972, she attended college at Clackamas Community College. As a dare, she became a cheerleader and met her future husband, Jerry Skiles. After a short time dating, they married and moved to Arizona.

After about a year in Arizona, Jerry and Cherry returned to Oregon where they spent the next few years. In May of 1975, through the influence of Lillian Skiles, Jerry’s mother, Cherry became a Christian. Jerry and Cherry worked together growing vegetables in Harrisburg, OR and decided to move to Eastern Oregon where they eventually bought a small ranch near Durkee. As they began life on the ranch, Cherry became a mother to Andrea, Julie, Mary, and Brisbin in quick succession. Four kids in five years. During that time, Cherry was busy on the ranch and being a mother and became active in the local church. Missionaries spoke at the church, and Jerry and Cherry were convicted to become missionaries with New Tribes Mission.

With prayer and faith in God, Cherry packed up her house and kids in 1982 and began the journey with Jerry that ended with them in Ivory Coast, West Africa in 1985. She had prayed to not end up in Africa, but she moved forward in faith and loved it there. After a year of learning French, Cherry moved with her family to a remote Loron village. She homeschooled her kids and learned the tribal language and culture at the same time. Lara, her translated name, was of the fruit of a tree in the area.

Cherry loved being a mother. She would drag her kids and others on adventures ranging from creating new roads to collecting insects for science projects. When she would visit her children at school, she was always surrounded by people who wanted to join in her adventures.

Cherry lived a life of service. She was a help-mate to her husband and loved helping her children, friends, and the villagers be successful. She assisted with medical work, women’s evangelism, and maintaining a work/life balance between the village and life in the States.

In 1996, Jerry and Cherry switched missions to Shield of Faith Mission International out of Bend, Oregon. They moved to a small Loma village, Bwaybiye, near their old village of Gogo in Ivory Coast. It was a transitioning time in their ministry and a new stage of life, in that their children were getting older and moving on. Cherry threw herself into learning a new language and culture.

In 2002 a Civil War broke out in Ivory Coast and Cherry and Jerry moved back to Shedd, Oregon and the ministry she had dedicated her life to changed. While the war was ongoing, Cherry worked at BiMart and attended Corban College; she graduated with a BS in Psychology: Family Studies and graduated with Honors.

After attaining her degree, Cherry worked for two years as a middle school teacher at Fairview Mennonite School. She taught multiple classes ranging from Language Arts and Social Studies to Bible and PE.

When the school closed, Cherry began to travel more with Jerry on different volunteer projects, along with regular trips to the tribes in Ivory Coast. Her light shone bright as she taught and ministered to people in Laos, Ghana, and other post-conflict countries.

Cherry has struggled with Alzheimers for many years. Throughout the progression of the disease, her smile and love for Jerry, her family, and her love for God shone through. She would greet everyone with a smile and her oft repeated phrase, “Hi, my name is Cherry! Like the fruit.” Her grandchildren would call her “Lala”, like the fruit she was named after in Ivory Coast.

Her last weeks on Earth were surrounded by family and friends. She watched her daughter Mary get married. She danced in the car listening to Dolly Parton. She was happy and physically healthy. On Friday, she cleaned her room and packed her bag. She told her family she was ready to go and fell asleep. The next day Cherry blossomed in Heaven.

Cherry passed peacefully into the arms of her Lord on March 12, 2022. She was 67 years old.

Cherry was preceded in death by her father and mother: Chris and Lois and her brother Tom.

Cherry is survived by her step-mother, JoAnn; her siblings: Chris Jr., Candy, Terry, and Tamara; her husband Jerry; and her children: Andrea of Stuttgart, Germany; Julie (spouse Chris Norris) of Belton, TX; Mary (spouse Jon Price) of Troutdale, OR; and Brisbin of Harrisburg, OR; her grandchildren: Skye, Harlee, and Greyson. She also leaves behind all her friends and the people whose lives she touched.

Her memorial will be held at Plainview Fellowship at 34414 Plainview Dr. Shedd, OR 97377 on March 26, 2022 at 1100.

Donations will be accepted in lieu of flowers to build a well in the tribal area where Cherry worked in Ivory Coast.

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2 Timothy 4:7-8 says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing.”