Reverend Cheryl A. Fear

Reverend Cheryl A. Fear, of Bellingham, Washington, passed away at her home on July 9, 2026, after being diagnosed with advanced-stage pancreatic cancer in May. Cheryl was surrounded by her loved ones, including family and friends, at the end of her life.

Cheryl was 79. She was born in Macomb, Illinois, on April 25, 1947, to Roger and Virginia (Campbell) Lawhorn. She was the eldest of three children, with brother Terry and sister Nancy. She enjoyed being a big sister and took her role seriously.

Cheryl was raised in the Midwest. One of her first memories of elementary school was being in a two-room schoolhouse in Elvaston, Illinois. The family eventually ended up in Roseville, Illinois, where Cheryl graduated from high school in 1965.

In 1966, Cheryl married George Taylor. Together they had two children, Terry Lee in 1970 and Jennifer Marnel in 1972. This was a busy and full season of life. Cheryl also graduated from Western Illinois University in 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in teaching, with an emphasis in English.

In 1977, the family moved to the Pacific Northwest, settling in Lynden, Washington.

Cheryl worked as a substitute teacher, a legal secretary, and finally as a service representative at Continental Telephone (Contel). It was during this time that Cheryl and George divorced, and she moved to Mount Vernon, Washington.

In 1987, Cheryl met Duane Fear, who was also in the telecommunications business. They eventually married in 1993. Together, they blended their families, including Cheryl’s children, Terry and Marnie, and Duane’s children, Sara and Jay. The couple settled in Mount Vernon and enjoyed time together, traveling with friends, and time with family, especially being grandparents to Lindsay, Carly, and Jeffrey.

Cheryl retired from the phone company in 1995 and went on to work at the United Methodist Church in Mount Vernon, and then at Ruth’s Midwifery Clinic in 1999. She made lasting friendships everywhere she worked and valued those relationships immensely.

In 2002, Cheryl made the decision to go to seminary. She was accepted into the Vancouver School of Theology (VST) and graduated with her Master of Divinity in May 2005. She was ordained in 2009. Her first appointment took the couple to Liberty Park United Methodist Church in Spokane, Washington. From there, she and Duane went to Cashmere Methodist Church in Cashmere, Washington, from 2007 to 2011. Cheryl’s last appointment brought them back to Northwest Washington at Garden Street United Methodist Church in Bellingham, Washington, where she stayed until her retirement in 2014.

Duane was always an ardent supporter of his wife and her calling, singing in the choir and making friendships wherever they called home. It was with great sadness and heartbreak that Cheryl became a widow in September 2016, when Duane passed away unexpectedly.

Throughout Cheryl’s life, her passion for learning never ended, and her curiosity about the world around her was never quenched. She loved to travel, enjoying trips to England, Scotland, Israel, and more.

Cheryl was a loving daughter, sister, and niece. Above all, she loved being a mother, and all of her children knew and felt that love. She made lifelong friends on every journey she took in life, both abroad and at home. Her longest friendship began when she was six years old, and their last visit together was just days before she passed.

In the fall of 2025, a longtime project she worked so hard on came to fruition with the publication of her cookbook, The Family Table Cookbook: Memories of an Illinois Farm Girl. It truly tells her story, along with the recipes of life, both on the table and of the heart, that she enjoyed and treasured.

Cheryl was preceded in death by her husband, Duane Fear, and sister, Nancy Worthington. She is survived by her son, Terry L. Taylor; daughter, Marnie Taylor; stepson, Jason Fear (Jen); stepdaughter, Sara Williams; grandchildren, Lindsay, Carly, and Jeffrey; brother, Terry (Susan) Lawhorn; and many nieces and nephews.

The family requests that memorial gifts be made to your local Friends of the Library nonprofit group.

Services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 1, at First United Methodist Church in Mount Vernon (1607 E Division St.).

And when great souls die, after a period peace blooms, slowly and always irregularly. 
Spaces fill with a kind of soothing electric vibration. 
Our senses, restored, never to be the same, whisper to us. 
They existed. They existed. 
We can be. Be and be better. 
For they existed.

- Maya Angelou