Cheryl A Hyland

Cheryl Ann Hyland, 78, died peacefully on Sept. 21, 2022, at The Springs in Whitefish accompanied by two of her close friends.

Cheryl was born in Bismarck, North Dakota, on Dec. 10, 1942, the daughter of Rose Schmidt Hyland and James A Hyland. She grew up in Bismarck attending both primary and secondary schools, graduating from Bismarck High School in 1961. Music was a large part of her life as she played the clarinet in both the high school orchestra and band as well as majorette for the high school marching band, the American Legion Drum and Bugle Corps, and the Bismarck Elks band. She married Daniel Fricke after graduation and spent the majority of the next 19 years on the west coast.

Cheryl’s love for music continued as she studied voice in Portland and had the opportunity to participate in several productions by the Portland School of Opera & Related Arts: Hansel & Gretel, Don Carlos, The Magic Flute and the Cosi Fan Tutti; she also sang in numerous operas with the Portland Opera chorus.

Cheryl loved the outdoors and enjoyed hiking, camping, skiing, canoeing, tennis and jogging as well as entertaining, gardening, symphony concerts, live theatre productions, writing, reading and travel. In later years her interests branched into the study of natural health, and energy healing.

Her work career began with NERCO, a subsidiary company of Pacific Power & Light, where she began as a secretary in 1977, then moving into the scheduling of NERCO’s newly acquired corporate aircraft and additionally managing their commercial travel. In 1982 she moved to Sheridan, Wyoming where she assumed a variety of administrative responsibilities in the newly built administrative office facility for NERCO’s mining operations throughout Wyoming and southern Montana. When the Sheridan officed closed in 1985, she returned to Portland where she went to work as the Public Affairs Director for the International Trade Institute located at Portland State University.

Cheryl went back to school in 1986 and obtained her degree in interpersonal Communication from Marylhurst University in 1987 drawing upon her past work history and challenging college class credits with her prior level on the job knowledge equivalent to subjects taught at the university. A combination of challenged credits and classwork, she obtained her degree in one year though she doesn’t recommend doing it.

It was at the International Trade Institute that she met her soul mate and the love of her life, John Otis. Cheryl organized many international events for the Institute and published the monthly U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service Newsletter. Both she and John hosted many international guests in their home during her tenure there. When the administration of Portland State University decided to no longer host the Institute, John and Cheryl moved to Puerto Rico where John had a year’s contract with the University of Puerto Rico and then on to Taos, New Mexico where they spent the next 14 years.

While John developed the Taos Business Alliance for Economic Development, Cheryl became involved in a variety of volunteer projects. She was instrumental in bringing the Junior Achievement Program into the school system of Northern New Mexico, serving on the Mayoral-appointed Youth and Family Center Board, played a major role in helping to organize the annual Taos Feed Taos Food Distribution Program, and sat on the board of Humane Society. She worked at the Taos Community Foundation as it was being formed and helped to organize their community-wide Tango in Taos, an annual fundraising event for over 50 nonprofit organizations. She also monitored several large government grants for creating a safe fire boundary between private and public land in the Taos Canyon. She additionally spear-headed the annual Taos Canyon Cleanup of a 14 mile stretch of highway from the City of Taos to the Taos County border.

Missing the green and the water, they moved to Whitefish, Montana in the fall of 2008 where they set up residence until John’s passing in 2012. Deciding to maintain her residence in Whitefish after John’s death, she became involved in the community library where she served on both the Whitefish Library Association Board and the mayoral-appointed Whitefish Community Library Board of Trustees.

Survivors include three daughters and a son: Lisa Fricke Yost (Ron) of West Linn, Oregon; Dawn Fricke O’Connor (Dean) of Altoona, Iowa; Jonathan Fricke (Amy) of Bellevue, Washington; and Kim Fricke McDonald (Craig) of Dallas, Texas. Grandchildren are Colin Yost, Tessa Yost, Tyler O’Connor, Tanner O’Connor, Carson Fricke, Kaden McDonald and Keller McDonald.

She is preceded in death by her parents; daughter, Tamera Lane Fricke; and husband John Otis.

Please join us as we celebrate Cheryl’s life Sunday Oct. 9, 2022, 2 p.m. at The Lodge at Whitefish Lake, 1380 Wisconsin Avenue, Whitefish.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Whitefish Library Association, whitefishlibraryassociation.org.