Memorial
Sherry Lee Turner-Johnson, 56, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, passed away peacefully on September 11, 2026, surrounded by love after a courageous battle with cancer. Visitation will be held from 4:00 to 7:00 PM at the Cedar Memorial Chapel Stateroom on Friday, October 2, 2026. A private memorial service will be held at Cedar Memorial.
Sherry was born September 30, 1969, at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, to Albert Charles Turner and Patricia Elaine Smith. For more than 20 years, Sherry dedicated her working life to supporting others as a Direct Support Professional with the ARC of East Central Iowa. Her work reflected something much larger than a career. Caring for people, helping people find what they needed, and making life a little easier for someone else were simply part of who Sherry was.
That spirit of giving followed her everywhere. Sherry founded rePurpose, an organization dedicated to helping people in need establish their first household. She believed that the things one person no longer needed could become exactly what another person needed to begin again. She also served as a primary administrator for a Facebook group created to connect people who had things to give with people who needed them. Under the care of Sherry and the other administrators, the group grew to more than 10,000 members. For Sherry, generosity was not an occasional act. It was a way of living.
Sherry married Kai Johnson on October 22, 2005, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Together they built a life centered around family, service, and the people they loved.
She is survived by her husband, Kai Johnson; her children, Tyler Johnson and his fiancée, Hailey Spencer, and Faye Aurora Stoker; her grandchildren, Bennet Johnson and Brecklyn Johnson; her sister, Annette Pellmann and her husband, Brian; and many other family members, friends, coworkers, and people whose lives were touched by her kindness.
Sherry was preceded in death by her daughter, Hannah Johnson, and her mother, Patricia Turner.
Her legacy is not measured only by the years she lived, but by the people she helped along the way. She spent her life making room for others, giving what she could, and finding ways to help people stand a little more securely on their own feet.
In lieu of traditional memorial gifts, donations may be made to the ARC of East Central Iowa in Sherry's memory. The family also asks that, in honor of Sherry, each person who is able give one hour of their time in service to someone else.
One hour. One person helped. One small continuation of what Sherry spent her life doing.