Sherry Gail Taylor

Tulare - Sherry Gail Taylor passed peacefully to be with her Lord and many loved ones on Sunday, June 29, 2025. Sherry was born September 6, 1956, to Don and Thelma Taylor in Northridge, California. She was the older sister of Steven Randall Taylor, who died early in childhood in 1964, and Sharla Dawn Ashburn. She married Wayne Leroy Bradshaw on August 28, 1976, and they had six years together before he was killed in a tragic car accident. She married Larry Thomas Best on November 10, 1984. They divorced in 2005, but they remained close friends until his passing on December 19, 2018.

Sherry was a 1974 graduate of Tulare Western High School, where she was involved in several clubs and held office as well. She remained friends with many of her classmates and treasured their friendship to the very end of her time here on earth. During high school, Sherry got a work-study job in a local law firm, and a lifelong career began. Sherry was a legal secretary for 30 years and absolutely loved the profession. She had an amazing gift of memory and organization, and excelled in whatever position she held. After her time as a legal secretary, she was an Executive Secretary at First Baptist Church in Visalia and then a BSA Compliance Associate at Valley Business Bank. Most recently, she volunteered at her church, Prosperity Avenue Baptist Church, in Tulare.

Anyone who knew Sherry knew she was passionate about many things, but particularly dogs and music, in that order. She was a dog owner and lover all her life and thought about them every day to the very end. As a young child, Sherry and her family sang music together in church, which she continued into adulthood. During the 1970s, she sang with her mom and sister in the Taylor Trio on a weekly radio program called The Gospel Rangers, produced by Reverend Leo Harrison, pastor of the Tulare Foursquare Church at that time. Sherry treasured that period of her life. She listened to Southern Gospel Music continuously and left it on in her house when she went somewhere to entertain her dogs. She also loved the country music of George Strait. She was always happy to go to concerts and plays and read a good mystery book. Sherry was a kind, thoughtful, and generous person to both those she loved and to total strangers.

Sherry was preceded in death by her father, Don Taylor; mother, Thelma Taylor; brother, Steven Taylor; and husbands Wayne Bradshaw and Larry Best. She is survived by her sister, Sharla Ashburn, and husband, Richard, her nephew, Rick Ashburn, and his wife Jessica, her niece, Beth Perry, and her husband, Dustin. She is also survived by three great nephews and a niece whom she adored: Declan Ashburn, Chase Perry, and Madisyn Perry. Having Sherry for an aunt was an immense blessing!

At Sherry's request, there will be no formal funeral services at this time. Sherry chose to donate her body to science in hopes that she might help someone else in the future. A Celebration of Life gathering for those who loved her is pending in the near future.