Sherry Young Deaton was born in Atlanta in 1950, the only child of Gloria Jones Reckhow and Harvey Anderson Young.
After a short battle with a deadly cancer, she passed away on May 10, 2025.
Sherry attended Bass & Cross Keys High School, Grady Memorial Hospital, and Southern Tech. She retired from Bell Labs/Lucent Technologies, where she obtained three co-patents for the manufacture and development of fiber optic cable. After retirement, Sherry found her passion by becoming a UGA Master Gardener.
Starting in Dekalb County, where she was the project manager of the Stone Mountain project. Welcome Center, and then after moving to Greene County, as a founding member of the Greene County Master Gardeners. Her love of gardening is evident in numerous projects throughout Greene County.
In 2012, she was named Best Gardener/Landscaper by Lake Oconee Living Magazine’s annual readers’ poll. She was a member of the Greensboro Tree Board, the Greene County Beautification Committee, and the Liberty Community Committee. She also volunteered at Greene County High School for many years. Sherry was an avid lover of canines and one cat, adopting many strays and shelter dogs throughout her life.
There are many happy animals at the “Rainbow Bridge” reuniting with Sherry today. She loved all water sports, reading, long walks in the woods with her dogs, her Primetime exercise group, her friends, and neighbors in Double Branches and the Liberty Community. She & her husband, Ray, were 48-year Atlanta Falcons season ticket holders.
She and her husband loved to travel throughout the U.S. and around the world.
But her favorite trip was always their annual trip to some Caribbean island. Sherry will be deeply missed by her loving husband, Ray R. Deaton, her current canine companion, Dixie, and a host of friends in Atlanta and Lake Oconee.
She is also survived by her stepbrother, Robert Reckhow of Forsyth, GA, Sisters in sisters-in-law, Suzanne Deaton and Ginny Biddle. Her half-sister, Kim Young, and half-brothers, Bruce & Mark Young, of South Carolina.
Sherry requests that you make a donation in her name to the Oconee Regional Humane Society (www.ORHSPets.org) or the Circle of Friends Animal Society in Greensboro, GA. P.O. Box 1235, Greensboro, Ga. 30642.
A celebration of her life will be held at Lake Oconee Family Fitness, 1101 Lake Oconee Parkway, Eatonton, GA, on Sunday, May 25th, from 2-4 p.m.
Arrangements are by McCommons Funeral Home, 109 W. Broad St., Greensboro, GA (706) 453-2626.
To sign the online guest register, please visit www.mccommonsfuneralhome.com.