Sherri Grogan Biography
Sherri Grogan was born in Garnett, KS, and lived there until she graduated from high school in 1979. Her family lived in the country and owned Long's Wrecker Service. Sherri is the oldest of three children. They had horses and her dad would take them on trail rides in the surrounding area. Another fond memory is going bass fishing.
Most of Sherri's relatives lived in the immediate area. She liked to spend the weekend with her grandparents and aunt and uncle in Richmond where she would help clean house and weed the flower bed.
Sherri attended public schools and rode the bus. Memories of school and teachers are good. Activities that Sherri participated in include Bluebirds, Camp Fire Girls, Sunday school, softball, 4-H and Future Homemakers of America. Sherri was in the band, played the flute, was a baton twirler, flag team captain, member of the jazz band and National Honor Society. She learned to sew and made quite a few of her own clothes. Sherri worked part-time during high school at a fabric store and indoor horse arena.
Post-high school graduation, Sherri attended Wichita Vo-Tech taking a computer programming course. Her first full-time position was at Fleming Foods where she processed orders from grocery and convenience stores. In retrospect, she does not think she was fully prepared for adulthood. Decisions were made that resulted in her being an unwed mother. Sherri found herself in an abusive relationship and had to make a decision to leave town fast.
Sherri's next step was to move back to Garnett with her baby where she worked at Ben Franklin and then Daniel International Corporation at Wolf Creek Generating Station in New Strawn, KS. Sherri later found a job in Kansas City at United Telecommunications, Inc. United Telecom was the founding company of Sprint which spun off its local division into Embarq, later merged with CenturyTel and is now CenturyLink. Her career in the telecommunications industry has lasted nearly 37 years. Sherri held numerous positions including typing documents pre-personal computers; analyzing audit findings from wholesale customers, process analyst, customer account manager for wholesale customers, operations manager of broadband maintenance center and internal networks. Sherri has managed teams, performed root cause analysis on complex issues, improved processes, written business cases, submitted requirements for system enhancements and coached employees.
On the home front, Sherri married and had a second child. Sherri raised her children in the Turner area of Kansas City, KS. She took advantage of the her employer's education benefit and obtain college degrees from Kansas City Kansas Community College and Friends University as a working, single mom. She is the first to graduate college in her immediate family.
In summary, Sherri had to pull herself up by the boot straps a couple of times, live paycheck-to-paycheck, and engage in a lot of self-talk. She has no regrets. These experiences helped shape who Sherri is and make her a stronger person. It also helps her understand where many of you are coming from and/or what you have been through.
Sherri and her husband Max have been married for 14 years and they currently live in Basehor, KS. They have five children and seven grandchildren. They also own a cabin at Lake of the Ozarks and a home in Wyandotte County.
