Sherrill Margaret Karppinen (Yelland, Lindstrom), 79, reunited with her beloved husband Wayne Karppinen on Wednesday, October 30, 2024. She passed quickly and peacefully in memory care in Edina, MN.

Sherrill was born on September 27, 1945 in Negaunee, MI to Richard and Jeanette Yelland. Growing up, she played violin in the school orchestra and sang in the church choir. She married and moved to Wausau, WI and finished her education degree and teaching credential at University of WI- Stevens Point. She taught reading, directed the plays, and coached forensics at John Muir Middle School for 22 Years. When her daughters were reaching middle school, she and several other YMCA swim team moms saw a Title 9 imbalance in the sports offerings at the school and they lobbied to get a swim team for the girls at John Muir in the early ‘80s. She later helped to coach the team, which grew to over 100 participants.

Sherrill also brought creativity and imaginative projects to her students combined with life skills. Her daughters remember her asking restaurants on vacation to have a copy of their menus to help teach reading comprehension, and creative writing assignments including students making albums of their lives and interests.

She loved to read mysteries and do crafts – teaching her girls to macrame, paint, and crochet. When she remarried and moved, settling in Sterling Heights, MI, she taught elementary education courses and supervised student teachers for Oakland University, where friends would also gather for marathon pasty making parties. She loved to garden and tend to flowers and summer tomatoes, spend time with friends at their boat, connect with friends and neighbors through dinners and quiet drinks on the deck.

She is remembered as a devoted mother who empowered her daughters to do anything they set their minds to, to focus on their education and become lifelong learners, and who was always there to bring them to practices and music lessons and to talk through life’s challenges and celebrations. She was a generous friend, hosting Wayne’s hunting buddies over Thanksgiving and keeping her siblings in contact. She is preceded in death by her parents, husband Wayne, sister Barbara, brother Roy, nephew Lucas, and stepson Greg. She is deeply missed by her daughters Keri (husband Nickolai, granddaughter Alexandra) and Sandra (husband Steve), step-daughter Kristen (husband John, grandchildren Grace and Chase ), her brother Robert, and dear friends.

The family plans to hold a memorial in MI near Wayne’s favorite fishing cabin in summer 2025, and asks people to share their condolences online here to be notified of future details.

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