Western New Mexico University hosted a going-away party for Jan Sherman, who will move to Merced, Calif., to be near her daughter.

Sherman served on the WNMU Foundation Board from 2000-2008 and has been a long-time supporter of the university and the community in which she lives.

A native of the area, having grown up in Mogollon, Sherman attended New Mexico State Teacher's College and married Frannie Ray of the “Hoosier” basketball team at STC, before he joined the Navy during World War II.

Sherman worked in the accounting department at Chino Mines and later in the administrative offices of Cobre Schools. After her husband died, she married Ben Sherman, a Deming attorney.

She was very dedicated to her church, Valley Community Church, and helped Rev. Harold Johnson move it from Santa Rita to Arenas Valley.

Sherman is a flamboyant member of the Red Hat Society.

She said she will miss her dear friends, but is starting a new era of her life and will enjoy being near her daughter.

Most of the guests, who signed the guest book, said that she will be missed.

The event was coordinated by several WNMU employees, including Danielle Moffett, Alumni Director Vance Redfern and his assistant Suzanne Triviz-Harrigan, and Linda McArthur and hosted by Institutional Advancement, Office of Alumni Affairs and the WNMU Foundation.