Gale F. Trey Sherer III

The following message concluded Trey Sherer’s Memorial Service at Chiles-Laman Shawnee Chapel on 06/01/2024. The funeral director played Lee Brice, “Save the Roses” for his friends & family at the conclusion of this letter.

"You’ve walked around this room today looking at all the best moments of Trey’s life. For the majority of them, I was the one behind the camera. The love we had for each other was genuine and unconditional. I’m not going to paint a picture of the perfect, happy family. The truth is, we struggled. We were still married, but as most of you know, we have spent the last 18 months living apart. At the end of the day, Trey and I spent over a decade together. Without Trey, I wouldn’t have the little boy sitting next to me today who is undeniably a spitting image of him in more way than one. He loved my oldest like his own and gave me two more children to love. There was never a dull moment with Trey in the room.

His last words to me were, “Love you, bye.” Now, to elaborate, he was annoyed with me & hung up on me after he said it, but the truth is, he did love me & I know that. If you’re sitting in this room today, there’s a good chance you know the “sins and struggles he has carried all these years.” as quoted on the memorial card that you picked up today. (Excerpt from Brad Paisley, "When I Get Where I'm Going)

Throughout Carter’s childhood, he handmade Father’s Day gifts for Trey each year. Often, they prompted him to fill in the blank. Of course, I kept these. Over the past week, I’ve spent many hours going through memories. One card asked, “What do you love most about your dad?” Carter answered, “He is funny.”

Another prompted him to list ten things he loved about Trey. The first thing he listed was “He’s good at rap.” Consider it a privilege if you ever got to hear his rap skills, that means you were one of the few people he was completely comfortable being himself around.

The last one I want to mention is one that prompted “Believer in…. (blank.)” Carter completed the sentence with “God.” Now if you knew Trey, you know that this was not a topic of conversation that he had frequently. You were not going to find Trey in a church pew on Sunday morning, but I want to leave you with this, Trey did believe that he would see his grandparents and Robin again someday. The thought of Trey being free from all that weighed him down and running into Robin’s arms at the gates of Heaven has brought me comfort this week. The thought of him wrapping his arms around my Grandma Brown with his head hung because he knows how upset she would be that he is there much sooner than he should be makes my heart just a little less heavy.

When you leave here today, I encourage you to hold your drink up high and toast to the good times. I encourage you to talk about him and share your stories of all the stupid things that he did. We’re going to take a moment to listen to a song. I hope you listen to the words and know with all your heart that Trey would want you to Save the Roses and keep his memory alive by making memories with the people you love most and smiling when you think of him. Take your children fishing. Teach them to shoot. Make time to throw the football. Hug them a little tighter and a little longer.

With love,

Katelynn"