Biography

Cheryl Gene White (pronounced with a hard "ch" as in church), the eldest of Ruby Goad and Hershel White's four children, was born near Ferris, Illinois in 1910 before moving to Dedham, Iowa as a baby. Following Ruby White's death during the influenza pandemic of 1919, the family moved to Des Moines where the children were primarily raised by their grandmother Emma "Mother" White. Cheryl White graduated from Des Moines' Abraham Lincoln High School in 1928 and enrolled at the Iowa Methodist Hospital School of Nursing, completing her R.N. degree in 1931.

White married Chester "Chet" Francis Britton in 1931. The couple had three children: a son who died in infancy, Jerry, and Nancy. Cheryl and Chet Britton divorced in 1959, but she remained close with the Britton family for the rest of her life.

In 1959, Britton and her daughter Nancy moved to southern California. After working several years as a private duty nurse, she joined the staff of Leisure World in Laguna Hills, where she spent the rest of her career. After retirement, Britton enjoyed gardening and travelling on group tours. She moved to Chico, California in 1992, near Nancy and her husband Al Loeffler, where she remained for the rest of her life. Cheryl Britton died in 2003.

Britton was an acquaintance of journalist Dora Jane Hamblin; they met while participating in the Camp Fire Girls at Camp Hantesa in Boone, Iowa.

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