Cherylann Bahlenhorst of Mesa, Arizona was born in South Bend, Indiana to Robert and Sabra Yarbrough. She grew up there and married her high school sweetheart, Barry Marks. Barry was an auto mechanic. Barry and Cherylann lived in Florida for awhile, and in Kentucky when Barry was in the service. A while after returning to Indiana, they had two boys, Brent and Todd.

The family moved to California in 1974, Brent went into the service in 1990, and brought back a Korean bride. The family, minus Brent who stayed in California with his wife, moved to Tennessee. Barry had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and disability checks would go further in a less expensive area. Barry died in 1997 in Tennessee after Brent, having divorced his wife, had moved there to be with him. Barry's wishes were for the family to move back to Indiana, and Cherylann had found an affordable home right across the street from her brother, Jack, in Granger, Indiana.

Todd died in 2001, just after Brent married his second wife. Cherylann also remarried shortly after Todd's death, a man that she'd been seeing awhile named Dane Bahlenhorst. Their love grew quickly, and they decided to move to Arizona to get away from the harsh cold of Northern Indiana winters. After nine months of living in Arizona, after Dane went with his brother-in-law on a fishing trip to Canada, Dane died of a bowel obstruction. A few years later, Brent lost his wife to cancer.

In August of 2007, Cherylann was diagnosed with cancer in her chest and torso. She underwent chemotherapy and did quite well by most standards, not really getting very ill from it, but losing her hair. In March of 2008, her friend Karen was by her side when she had a "stroke," which after an MRI was found to be a seizure caused by cancerous lesions in Cherylann's brain which had metastasized from the carcinoma in her lungs. She endured a full treatment of radiation, and a subsequent MRI showed that the lesions were gone. The radiation had taken her hair again, but she was left drained of both strength and energy. Later, in May, Cherylann started to exhibit symptoms of the lesions again. Her brain functions were deteriorating, and her balance was getting worse again. She fell and broke her left arm. Brent called her doctors and brought her to the hospital for treatment. The MRI showed that the cancer had returned to the same level as it had been in March. Cherylann, in her weakened state, was no longer a candidate for the radiation treatments. She was transferred from the hospital to East Mesa Healthcare where she was looked after until she succumbed to the cancer and went to rest with Jesus. She is survived by her brother, Jack, and her son, Brent.

Published in The Arizona Republic on June 27, 2008

djb 09.18.2019