Cheryl Kay Seichrist

Cheryl Kay Seichrist, the beloved wife of Erik Seichrist and adoring mother of Erik Patrick Seichrist, left her family on this earth to join her loving parents on July 5 2024. She was 63.

Cheryl was born April 2, 1961 in Bethesda, MD to Jerome Patrick Burns, Jr. and Lorraine Palcher Burns. She served up snow cones at McDuffy’s, handled lumber orders at Stock Building Supply and would spend most of her professional life working at Miami Ad School.

As the school’s director of financial aid, she helped students from around the world follow their dreams of working in creative fields, like advertising, photography, and design. 

Her legacy will be her love. 

She poured it into her 34-year marriage to her husband, Erik Seichrist, and she wrapped it around her son, Erik Patrick Seichrist, who stood by her side, holding her hand as she passed. 

Cheryl met her soulmate while working at the Worrell Brothers Restaurant in Virginia Beach.

He was a manager. She was a new waitress. He picked her to work on his shifts, and they ultimately picked each other forever. 

They married in 1990, later moved to Miami and in December 2023 moved to Charleston, South Carolina. Their love endured. 

Cheryl was warm, tenacious and stubborn. She could soothe a bad day and find answers in chaos. She loved the roar of a NASCAR race, preferred her beer in a koozie, which she called a “huggie,” and adored her son’s black lab, Buddy, whose sweet, round face served as a lockscreen on her phone and laptop. 

She loved being Harper’s “CiCi.” She lit up when she spoke to Kristin. And she could devour a stack of books in a single weekend. 

For a woman who was told she would never have kids, she became a mother to many. 

She beamed when her step-daughter, Erika, graduated from high school. She took phone calls from students who turned to her when they needed help, whether it was questions about their passport or whether they were just feeling homesick. 

She welcomed John into her home, no questions asked. She cried happy tears in February when she learned her son had proposed to Caitlin, and she had said “yes.” 

Cheryl was a woman no one could forget, and she was a wife, mother and friend that no one ever wanted to live without — which is part of what makes her sudden death such a devastation to her family and her friends. 

Cheryl’s love was fierce and deep. It’s the kind of love that doesn’t just linger. It sinks into the soul. 

Left to cherish her memory are her husband, Erik; her son, Erik Patrick and his future wife (Caitlin); her loving brothers and sisters Jerry Burns (Marian), Patricia Burns, Jeff Burns (Ellen), and Susan Burns.

A private ceremony to honor Cheryl Kay Seichrist and the indelible mark she left on our hearts will be held at a future date.