Roll Call Tribute

George Edwin "Ed" Sherwood 
January 8, 1930 - May 20, 2023 

George Edwin “Ed” Sherwood of Boerne, Texas, passed away on May 20, 2023, with his beloved wife Dolores at his side. Ed was born on January 8, 1930, and raised in Campo Grande, in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. The fifth of ten children born to Baptist missionaries Wattie and Eunice Sherwood, Ed moved to Dillon County, South Carolina with his family in 1942. He attended Dillon High School before finishing high school at North Greenville Baptist Academy in Tigerville, South Carolina. After attending Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee, Ed served in the U.S. Army for two years during the Korean War and was stationed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, where he served primarily as a medical technician.

After being honorably discharged, Ed eventually headed to Texas, which served as home for most of his life. He studied at Texas A&M, graduating in 1958 with degrees in mechanical engineering and history. In 1959 Ed moved to San Antonio, where he would live for the next 37 years. He worked for over 30 years as an engineer for the Air Force Logistics Command at Kelly AFB. Among his many accomplishments, Ed spearheaded innovations in testing of jet aircraft engines, including the building of “hush houses” at Kelly and other USAF bases around the globe. His TDY travels for the Air Force took him to Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Japan and South Korea. He also earned a J.D. degree from St Mary’s and a master’s from UTSA.

It was in San Antonio where Ed would meet the love of his life, Dolores, and together they would raise four children in Colonies North. Despite a demanding job on the other side of town, he managed to attend endless band concerts, music recitals, school open houses and Little League baseball games. He was active in the Tom C. Clark H.S. Band Boosters and had a particular fondness for scoring his sons’ Northside Suburban Little League baseball games. His natural affinity with children extended beyond his immediate family, as his many nephews, nieces, grandnephews and grandnieces can attest. For many years he also taught Sunday School to toddlers at Castle Hills First Baptist Church, where he was an active member.

Ed enjoyed taking his family to Texas League baseball games at V.J. Keefe Field, Spurs games and Southwest Conference basketball tournaments at the old Hemisphere Arena and the occasional football game at Kyle Field, come rain or shine. Trips fishing in the Hill Country were also common, as were dry-witted jokes told around the family dinner table. Summer often meant a road trip back east to his parents’ farm in South Carolina, with Ed meticulously planning stops along the way to visit extended family, explore Civil War battlefields and tour old plantation homes and WWII battleships. Otherwise, on any fall Saturday afternoon he could always be found listening intently to Texas A&M football games on the radio.

After retirement from Kelly and their children had all finished college, Ed and Dolores started a new chapter in their lives by moving to Dillon, South Carolina, in 1996. There they bought and lived in the boyhood home of Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, looked after the Sherwood ancestral farm, tended to the farm’s pecan orchard and quickly made many lifelong friends at their local Baptist church. Ed also went on several mission trips to his native Brazil to help build new churches.

The lure of grandchildren is strong, and in 2005 Ed and Dolores moved back to Texas, settling in Boerne, where he would spend the rest of his life at their last “forever” house. Ed was extraordinarily proud of his children’s accomplishments, he deeply loved his grandkids and he cherished friends and family. For the last 15 years of his life he battled dementia, but it never diminished his spirit, and through it all, his lovingness and gentleness shined brighter, especially in the company of his grandkids. A devoted friend and loving husband, father, grandfather and uncle, he is dearly missed by all.

In addition to his loving wife of over 56 years, George is survived by his four children: Matthew Sherwood (Amy) of Malton, England; Latricia Capo (Michael) of Middletown, Ohio; John Sherwood (Theresa) of San Antonio, Texas and Andrew Sherwood (Sara) of San Antonio, Texas. He also leaves behind eight grandchildren—Mary, Paul, Patrick and Thomas Sherwood of Malton; Sarah, Rachel and Leah Capo of Middletown; and Lottie Sherwood of San Antonio—and one great-grandson, Preston Capo of Middletown.

Ed is also survived by his brothers William of Lynchburg, Virginia; David (Eyvonne) of Greenville, South Carolina and James (Shirley) of Edenton, North Carolina; his sisters Eva Pilkinton of Greenville, South Carolina, and Rachel (Jim) Roberts of Auburn, Indiana; and numerous nieces and nephews.

In addition to his parents, Ed is predeceased by his sisters Priscilla Powers and Elza Seabock and his brothers Thomas Cade Sherwood and Neill McEachern Sherwood.

The family will be forever grateful to Malee Banse and Jeni Haines, for the loving care they provided Ed and support they gave to Dolores in the last months of Ed’s life.

The family will hold a private graveside service at Mission Park Dominion. In lieu of flowers, they ask that you make a donation to the charity of your choice or to one of the following:

International Mission Board (IMB, formerly Foreign Mission Board): www.imb.org/generosity. 

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital: https://www.stjude.org/donate/donate-to-st-jude.html.