Cheryl Conlee's Obituary
Cheryl Denise Conlee was born in Memphis, TN on February 13, 1964, with three holes in her tiny heart. Yet this challenge would become her signature strength. What doctors first called a defect became, in time, the source of her courage, her compassion, and her extraordinary resilience.
At not quite three years old, weighing only 18 pounds, Cheryl had the ASD/VSD defects repaired — just the second child in Tennessee to undergo open-heart surgery. She emerged from that operating room not fragile, but fierce. She grew strong and tall into a child who ran, laughed, climbed, explored, and lived with a spark that could not be dimmed.
She spent her childhood in Nesbitt, Mississippi, with her beloved big sister Lynn — the same sister who teased her that she was “bought at a flea market because she had parts missing.” Cheryl loved working on the family farm with her dad, and she found joy in every creature. She gave up her pacifier to a momma chipmunk that was “one short” for her litter, had a prized goat — they took the ribbon with their matching outfits, raised a pig that trusted only her, and loved her days with the horses and chickens.
As a girl, she believed she had a superpower: when her heart suddenly raced, she would take off running to “catch it” and her exertion seemed to match the pace and slow her heart back down. Only later did she learn those episodes were an arrythmia called ventricular tachycardia — dangerous, yes, but never enough to slow her spirit.
Cheryl carried that spirit to Horn Lake High School, playing on the girls’ basketball team — one of the tallest, and then on to Ole Miss and into a life filled with friendship, laughter, and purpose. She earned her degree in Computer Science, became a Rebels fan for life, and built a chosen family that began with her BFF Eric, Ann, Keith, Jimmie, & Terrance. They danced with her through nights up in the Memphis clubs and stood with her through every chapter that followed.
She moved up to Memphis after graduating and her career spanned technology, healthcare, leadership, and innovation. She wrote software for FedEx pilot training, managed IT teams, implemented major programs, and helped bring life-changing pharmaceuticals to the market. She earned her MBA and coached softball with the same enthusiasm and passion that she brought to every corner of her life.
In 2006, she purchased her dream home in Oxford — a house nestled in the woods, alive with wildlife, serenity, and wonderful neighbors. She built a workshop and filled it with tools for her projects. It became a gathering place, a refuge, and a celebration of everything she loved. Dinners, pool parties, and fire pits were always shared with friends and family.
She met her soulmate, Michaelene, in 2014 and they bonded over a love of sports and their shared belief of “nature is my church”. They were yin and yang: always with a shared goal, but rarely with the same idea of how to get there! They were married in 2016 and shared a deep love, support, and admiration for each other. Together they raised many fur-babies, cheered for their teams in a myriad of sporting events, did countless projects between their homes in Mississippi and Wisconsin, and had amazing travel adventures across 3 continents and 17 countries!
Cheryl served her communities through numerous board positions, including the UU Congregation of Oxford, the LGBTQIA+ Emergency Fund in North MS, and Gathering Ground, a non-profit devoted to promoting sustainable farming and education on Washington Island, WI. She was one of the founding members of Gaining Ground in Mississippi Sustainability Institute - Oxford Chapter, which helped start the Oxford Community Farmers’ Market, and she volunteered at the Oxford Food Pantry and the Lafayette/Oxford/University Housing Summit. She was an avid supporter of Ole Miss athletics, especially as a Full Court Club member of women’s basketball.
She was brilliant, funny, witty, honest, caring, diligent, and dependable. She had a passion for gardening, championed sustainable farming, fought food and housing insecurity, and nurtured the land and creatures around her. She rehabilitated wildlife — especially opossums — with tenderness and joy. She had friends from all walks of life. Her guiding principle was simple: if someone needed help, she helped. And her only ask in return was “pay it forward.”
Cheryl spent her life under the care of heart specialists, undergoing three open-heart surgeries and numerous procedures — and yet she thrived. Even the ICD defibrillator implanted twenty years ago to regulate her arrhythmias never slowed her down. Each challenge only deepened the capacity of her heart — a heart that supported, uplifted, and profoundly impacted those around her. Her life proved that strength is not the absence of vulnerability, but the courage to love without limits. And even after the complications of her final surgery, it was her extraordinary heart — newly mended and fiercely strong — that was the last part of her to let go.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Bobby Conlee and Pat (Waggoner, Conlee) Gay, her beloved sister, Deborah (Lynn) Conlee, cherished aunt Eloise (Conlee) Newell, several dear friends, and many beloved fur-babies.
Her legacy survives through her loving wife, Michaelene Johnson, in-laws Micki & Ivan Johnson, sister-in-law Erika (Sean) Lennon, sister-in-law Jill Samuels, aunt Kay (Ernie) Owens, nephew Colin Lennon, nieces Kaleigh Lennon, Liat Samuels, and Lynnie Samuels, godson Marcanthony Burnett, stepdaughter Anna Graves, several cousins, and many good friends that she considered family. Her heart will forever beat through the countless lives she touched.
There will be a Celebration of Life for Cheryl on June 27th at 6pm at The Farmstead #39 CR 2068, Oxford, MS 38655
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