Ernest and Estelle Sherry

Estelle and Ernest Sherry celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary on Feb. 13.  The couple met at the Carnegie Institute of Technology where Ernie Sherry was a mechanical engineering major and Estelle Mattes was a secretarial studies major at Margaret Morrison Carnegie College.  Ernie, whose education was interrupted by a tour of duty in the Pacific during World War II, graduated first and moved home to West Hartford.  Not to be deterred, he drove back to Pittsburgh to visit his girlfriend Estelle every weekend. As a measure of Ernie’s true love and devotion, these were the days before the existence of Routes 84, 78 or 80.
After Estelle graduated, the couple married and set up house in an apartment on Robin Road.  Later they bought Ernie’s parents’ home on Griswold Drive, raising their children there.  Ernie owned the Sherry Plumbing & Heating Company in Hartford for 30 years.  Estelle went back to school when their oldest was in high school, earning her Master’s degree from Central Connecticut State College. She was a professor at Greater Hartford Community College for 15 years teaching business education and speaks often about her wonderful students.
Both Ernie and Estelle are active in the community. Longtime members of Beth El Temple in West Hartford, they are also volunteers and board members of the Jewish Family Services of Greater Hartford and are active with Carnegie Mellon alumna.  Golf, travel and theater are other passions, helping to keep their schedules full.
Currently residing in a condo in West Hartford, the Sherrys keep in close touch with their three children and eight grandchildren – who are spread throughout the states, and across the globe from Australia to Senegal – via  visits, email, phone calls and Skype.