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Show ''''' , The Tfumderhird Wednesday May 29 , 1985 Page 11 s i i r. ; ' - : 's.; Sherratt seems to have an unfailing sense of what befits even the most esoteric and arcane occasion. From the suit of medieval armor that adorns his tasteful basement dining room to the personal attention he devotes to the most circumstantial detail of a Sherratt-produce- d event, he seems to always know exactly whats right. He is a highly adaptable man, able to mix well with all types of people without compromising his personal style and ideals. He is warm and has an easily evident love of people. His laughter comes quickly and genuinely. While at USU, even after he had earned his doctorate at Michigan Slate University in 1975, few people students included called him anything but Jerry. He never questioned such familiarity. He was close to students even when serving at the highest level of the administration. His is a sense of humor that often seems tailored to relieve strain and pressure. Attendees at meetings are often grateful for the relief of a Sherratt joke in the midst of the proceedings. It is a hallmark of Sherratts leadership skills. Making others comfortable to interact with candor and concern is his style. He is as well. Often when asked if he wishes his photo to appear on a publication of any kind, he response is, Who wants to look at a chubby, bald guy? Of course, Sherratt was not always a chubby, bald He was born in 1931 in Los Angeles, the second of Lowell Sherratt of Cedar City and Elva Lamb of Toquerville. The familys roots Utah. His ancestors, The Bullochs, were the second family to settle at 'Coal Creek in 1852 and grandfather James Sherratt was among those who hauled logs down from Cedar Mountain in 1897 to found the college. The Sherratt family returned to Cedar City from southern California while the future president was in seventh grade. He shone at the junior high school and was graduated from the old Cedar High School, across the street from the college, in 1949. were deep in southern There was little question that Sherratt would move the street to the BAC the Branch Agricultural College. While there he was president of Gamma Psi Upsilon fraternity, associate editor of the school newspaper and art editor of the yearbook. As mayor of Teen Town, he organized the largest parade in Cedar Citys history and, with Ann Judd, now wife of the dean of the School of Science, wrote a musical which attracted a larger crowd than the colleges grand opera that year. Perhaps his greatest passion was leading cheers for the BAC. In all, he spent 10 years of his life as an official cheerleader, and evei' year since leading cheers of a sort for institutions of higher learning. across masters degrees in educational related fields by 1954. His first job out of USU, or the Utah State Agricultural College as it was known in those days, was as an Air Force training officer. He returned to USU as adviser to student activities in 1957, then moved on to the University of Utah in 1962 as staff associate. He returned to USU again a year later as director of high school relations and two years later assumed the duties of assistant to the president, under Daryl Chase. He retained the job under Glen Taggart and picked up additional duties along the way to being named vice president for university relations in 1977. His record at USU is a redoubtable one. He fashioned the summer school program into a nationally renowned one, built around a marketing and commercial blockbuster: The Festival of the American West. The annual affair, now being readied for its 14th season, consists of displays and presentations about the American West, as well as a stunning extravaganza of a pageant; a phantasmagoria of sights and sounds that tell the history of the odyssey of the western colonization. The music, words and action established Sherratt as a man of singular creativity. As the student newspaper wrote, Its difficult to see why Sherratt is not on Broadway. Those years were particularly satisfying ones for Sherratt if for no other reason than they gave him the He graduated from the BAC in 1951, and moved north to Logan, where he received his bachelors and (continued on page 12) |