Cheryl Brandner Archer died of pancreatic cancer in San Marcos, Texas on July 27, 2020. She was born to Daniel C. Brandner and Verle Cudney on September 1, 1950 in Liberal, Kansas. She grew up in Wichita, Kansas where her father was a public school principal. After his death of early Alzheimer’s Disease her mother went on teach music and piano in Wichita. She graduated from Wichita High School Southeast in 1969 where she was an avid singer and dancer. She began her forty-nine-year marriage to her high school and college sweetheart Richard L. Archer after they both graduated from the University of Kansas in 1971. Cheryl graduated with a degree in early childhood education and later went on to earn a Masters Degree in Special Education from the University of Texas at Austin.
The couple came to Texas in 1975 for her husband to begin his career as a college professor of social psychology after graduate school at Duke University in North Carolina. She taught school on a variety of campuses in Austin, Westlake Hills, San Marcos, and Kyle and classes ranging from K-12 to Special Education. Cheryl is remembered fondly by her many former students and remained in contact with many of them as they grew into adulthood. Although she loved her career in teaching, after seventeen years she retired to pour all her love into raising her children.
Cheryl and Richard adopted their daughter Katherine Archer in 1988 and Cheryl gave birth to their son James Archer in 1993. In addition to being a mother she was also a teacher and advocate for James who has non-verbal autism. For many years she served as a contact for other parents learning about and coping with their children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Central Texas area. Recently, she was very active in Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense and the Democratic Party in San Marcos.
Cheryl is survived by her husband, daughter, son, and a number of aunts, cousins, nieces, and nephews. According to her wishes, no service will be held until after the pandemic. Memorial gifts may be made to HALO (Helping Autism through Learning and Outreach) at halo-soma.org and to Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense at momsdemandaction.org.
Arrangements in care of Pennington Funeral Home, San Marcos, Texas. www.penningtonfuneralhome.com.
