Cheryl Bulot deHoll

Cheryl Bulot deHoll, 77, entered into Glory on May 9, 2025 at her home surrounded by her husband of 54+ years and family and friends in Mount Pleasant, SC. Born Cheryl Joan Bulot in Hollywood, CA, she was the child of Joan Elizabeth Park Bulot and Philip Andrew Bulot.

The second of four children (Michelle, Cheryl, Mark, and Paul), Cheryl grew up primarily in Nevada City and Yuba City, California. She developed early on a lifelong love of words. Cheryl was a voracious reader, even studying entire dictionaries cover to cover to expand her vocabulary. After graduating Suma cum laude from the University of the Pacific, she attended Humboldt State to obtain a Master’s Degree in speech therapy. Those plans got put on hold, however, when on a blind date in 1970 she met the love of her life, Lt. Bob deHoll (USN) when he was stationed onboard a nuclear fast attack submarine in Bremerton, Washington where her brother-in-law was the chief engineer of the submarine and Bob’s boss. After just two dates, they knew they were meant for one another; a month later, they were married in Redding, CA. Over the next 54+ years, they had countless adventures together. Throughout all that life threw at them-war, illnesses, and two sometimes nerve-wracking sons-they remained best friends and the love of each other’s lives.

Initially they lived along the West Coast of California first in San Diego and then in Oakland, California, where Cheryl’s love of language led her to become a librarian at the University of California Berkeley. But being open to new things, in 1980 they took a chance and moved to Upstate South Carolina. There, Cheryl, Bob, and their sons found a labor of love in renovating a 120 year old very large Greek Revival house in Anderson, South Carolina. And in the midst of that, raising children, and working full time at Anderson College (now Anderson University), she earned her Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina by driving to Columbia several times a week for over two years. Her only failure was that, despite her best efforts and speech therapy training, her youngest son developed a full-blown Southern accent.

Cheryl enjoyed cooking and baking (especially with grandkids), Napa red wines, traveling with Bob, and all things Harry Potter. Above all else, though, Cheryl was known for showering love on those whom she loved, which was just about everyone. Anyone who talked with Cheryl more than a couple minutes knew how proud she was of her children and grandchildren. Surviving cancer four different times herself, she supported others going through treatment and raised money for the American Cancer Society and was very active in the One-In- Eight Cancer Support Group. When she participated in the One-In-Eight Support Group, she mentored more than 25 women cancer patients for a number of years. She knit hundreds of hats for newborns and children, and for people in chemotherapy and as Christmas gifts for children at the Grace Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco. Some were made for widows and shut-ins. In those ways, and in countless others, she lived out Jesus’s call to serve those in need.

Cheryl is survived by her husband, Robert deHoll; her brother, Paul Benson (Denise) from Darby, Montana; her sister, Michelle Raggett (Mike) from Carmel, California; her two sons, Christopher (Toija) from Durham, North Carolina and two of her granddaughters from Durham Chloe and Olivia and Andrew (Leigh) Mount Pleasant, South Carolina and their children , Mary Sims, and David; and numerous nieces, nephews, and other extended family. She also leaves behind in-laws Mark, Jennifer, Tyler, Mary Lake, Adden, and Pierce Davidson, who she considered family and they all considered her an integral part of their families.

A Celebration of Life at Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church and Inurnment at Grace Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco, California will be held at a later date.   

No flowers, please. Instead, advocate for your local library. Contribute to cancer research. Help a neighbor in need. Continue her example that we live best by living for and helping others.

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