Spiritual Legacy of Sherry Mercieca
Founder and Director of the Huntsville Feminist Chorus
May 15, 1950 - December 29, 2001

From early childhood, Sherry Mercieca seemed to have been
prepared for a great spiritual mission in life... that of promoting love
and good service to anyone who comes across her. Since early
childhood, she studied voice and piano and later as teenager she
performed major roles in leading operas, even as prima donna. Her
mission, as she said on quite a few occasions, was to promote peace
among people by trying to bring happiness in their hearts.

At age twenty, she married a university professor, some seventeen
years her senior. Over the next seven years she had two children,
Juliette and Alexander and, at the same time, she earned two
degrees, a Bachelor's in English and Music and a Master's in
Counseling Psychology from Alabama A&M University, where her
husband taught. For several years, she helped battered women with
her wise counseling giving them all the time they needed, everything
free-of-charge.

She read several books every month from cover to cover. Most of
these related to women's rights, to children's needs, and to a variety
of human problems. She spent a period of her life writing articles for
publication on any topic of current social and human concern. Some
ten years ago she founded the Huntsville Feminist Chorus, which she
directed with great enthusiasm. She firmly believed that the Huntsville
Feminist Chorus was bringing peace and happiness to many. And
she considered this event as her peace mission on earth.

In fact, just on the eve of her departure from this world, she was
explaining her plans of establishing a Feminist Chorus in as many
cities as possible. To this end, she planned to travel on weekends,
giving workshops on Friday and Saturday to a group of new women
and then let them perform in public on Sunday. The secret of
Sherry`s life lies in her outstanding virtues. She believed that religion
is found in the heart of every human being and that such a religion is
good or bad in every human depending on the kind of heart one
demonstrates to have, especially when it comes to love and service
to others, without making any distinction.

Those who know Sherry remember her as being a gentle woman with
a smile on her face, with a heart saturated with love for everyone who
comes across her, and with a determined will to be constantly at the
service of others without expecting anything whatsoever in return.
Ascetics describe this kind of behavior as saintly. Although Sherry
was not a rich woman in monetary terms, she was a very rich woman
when it came to radiate joy and happiness in others.

The best way to remember Sherry and to pay her a good tribute is
for us to continue working on the achievement of world peace
through love. This kind of love is revealed in helping people
everywhere to develop what talents they may have through the
performance of good service toward them.

By Charles Mercieca, Ph.D., Sherry's Husband
President, IAEWP, UN-NGO, Professor Emeritus, AAMU