Cheryl (Cheri) Anne Evans Ause was born August 14, 1948 in Steubenville, Ohio. She died at age 67 on August 22, 2015 in Gualala, California after a battle with liver disease.

Before retiring to California, Cheri taught English in Salt Lake City for 31 years. She began her teaching career with Granite School District teaching at Granite Park Junior High for one year and Eisenhower Junior High for eleven years. At the Junior High Level Cheri was the newspaper and yearbook advisor, along with advisor to the student body officers. She chaired the English department at Eisenhower for ten years.

For the next 19 years Cheri taught at Cottonwood High School. She was the Sophomore Honors English teacher and Yearbook advisor. She also taught Junior writing classes, and Senior concurrent enrollment classes for with students received both high school and college composition credit. She was a beloved teacher who mentored many students on their journey.

She met and married John Ause in Salt Lake City in 1968. They had two children, Megan and Joshua of whom she was extremely proud along with her two grandchildren.

Cheri graduated from East High in 1966. She graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelors of Arts degree in English and Spanish, and then completed her Masters of Arts degree in British and American Literature.

Cheri and John retired to Gualala, California which is a community of artists, poets and musicians. Cheri thrived. She loved her new title, "Freelance Writer". She was a member of the book club and participated and helped support the Third Thursday Poetry readings where she had many friends. Cheri opened her home to several of the visiting poets and formed dear relationships over the years. She was a member of Writers of Mendocino Coast. Cheri was published in several short story and poetry anthologies in the U.S., Australia and England. She was most proud of her winning short story entry in the Gualala Arts Writing Contest. Her winning work was then published in the Redwood Coast Review.

Cheri volunteered at the Gualala community theatre, raising much needed funds, writing ads and working on publicity.  She judged the science fair and the high school poetry slam until her health problems made it impossible to be as active as she wanted to be. In 2014/ 2015, despite her illness, she was a judge for the Gualala Arts Poetry Contest. Always willing to lend a hand when it came to writing, she never stopped teaching others the beauty and magic of the written word.

Cheri loved her adopted coastal community and its people and she always felt their love for her. Cheri left this world peacefully with her immediate family and her devoted husband by her side.