John Bligh
- Retired Teacher
Kim Ryan was just starting her teaching career at PS 42 on Staten Island in 2000 when Cathi Sherman was winding down her career after 34 years as a teacher. Their time at the elementary school overlapped by only two years. But Ryan says Sherman was unforgettable: an experienced colleague who was generous with her time and counsel about effective classroom strategies.
“She was one of the first people I met,” said Ryan, who like Cathi was a 1st-grade teacher at the time. “I looked up to her. I would sit in the teacher’s lounge with her and just listen. She was coming to the end of her journey at PS 42, but she would tell me, ‘Whatever you need, I’m here and my classroom is open to you.'”
Cathi, who was chapter leader at her school, died on March 5, 2020 from complications of COVID at the age of 73 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In addition to first grade, Sherman taught gifted and talented classes and an afterschool reading program.
When Ryan thinks back on what she learned from Cathi, it wasn’t so much one piece of advice as it was the way she treated her students. “She was very kind to the children,” Ryan recalled.
Cathi’s approach was to treat the children as if they were her own. “She would talk about ‘my kids,’ and that stayed with me,” said Ryan, who continues to teach at PS 42. Ryan said Cathi believed students should have fun and be engaged for learning to occur, and it was important for teachers to know their students and their home life — “not just the six hours they’re in class.”
Although their time as colleagues was brief, it was indelible. “I see her so clearly in my mind, smiling with the children,” Ryan said.
In her free time, Cathi enjoyed arts and crafts, including ceramics, and cooking with her daughters.
Cathi’s husband Robert wrote a moving tribute to her: “A wonderful woman, wonderful wife, wonderful mother and mother-in-law, a wonderful daughter, daughter-in-law, grandmother, teacher, sister and friend. But, most importantly, a beautiful human being. We all loved you the most, coast to coast and all around the world. Miss you every day, in every way.”
In addition to Robert, Cathi is survived by her daughters Randi and Bree; sister Ellen; son-in-law Patrick; granddaughter Lilith Hazel and numerous friends and colleagues.
