Cheryl Renee Lee

May 18, 1953 – September 19, 2026

Cheryl Renee Lee, age 73, passed away peacefully on September 19, 2026, at her home in Las Vegas, Nevada, surrounded by her family and held in the warmth of much love.

Born May 18, 1953, in Silver City, New Mexico, Cheryl was the daughter of the late Lawrence and Peggy Cronk.

Cheryl was an artist in the truest sense of the word. Painter, seamstress, jewelry maker, musician, and dreamer. She possessed that rare and somewhat mysterious quality of people who never quite see the world as everyone else does. Where others might have seen an ordinary piece of earth, fabric, stone, or metal, Cheryl could imagine what it might become. Her hands had a way of persuading beautiful things into existence.

Her creations were as individual as she was. One-of-a-kind pieces woven from Bohemian and earthy elements, colored by instinct rather than convention. Creativity was not simply something Cheryl practiced; it was the language through which she moved through the world.

Music found its way into her life as naturally as everything else. A gifted blues singer and lyricist, Cheryl wrote songs including the beautiful “Summer Garden,” “It’s Me,” and “Broken Wings.” In the late 1980s, she sang and performed with her band, Manitou, giving voice to the restless, soulful music that lived within her.

A child of the 1960s, Cheryl carried the spirit of that era with her throughout her life...a little untamed, but gloriously her own. She was undoubtedly a free spirit, a wild star with an enormous heart and a generosity that seemed to have no particular regard for limits. She could be unconventional, colorful, passionate, and wonderfully unpredictable. But beneath it all was something remarkably simple: she loved deeply, and she gave deeply.

And beneath the many colors of Cheryl's life was a faith that was deeply important to her. She loved Jesus, and her relationship with Him was a profound and enduring part of who she was. Her faith accompanied her through the seasons of her life, giving her comfort, hope, and a place to rest her heart. For Cheryl, Jesus was not merely a name spoken in passing, but a presence woven into the very heartstrings of her life. She carried that faith with her, and those who knew her understood how much it meant to her.

There are people who pass through our lives like weather, noticed for a moment and then gone. And then there are those who leave something behind: a color, a melody, a story, a little piece of themselves that somehow remains long after they've departed.

Cheryl was one of those people.

She was an extraordinary mother and grandmother, survived by her three sons, Sean River Sonnet, Troy Bernier, and Adam Sonnet, and her two grandchildren, Chance Sonnet and Sparrow Sonnet. She is also survived by her brother, Michael Cronk, and her nieces and nephew, Heather Edens (Cronk) and Cody Cronk.

Her legacy will not be measured solely in years or accomplishments, but in the things she created, the songs she sang, the people she loved, and the lives she touched simply by being unapologetically herself.

Perhaps that is the curious thing about a life like Cheryl's... the light does not necessarily disappear when the star is gone. Sometimes it merely finds other places to shine.

And Cheryl left quite a lot of light behind.

The family would like to deeply thank those who helped care for her and took part along on her journey.

May she rest now in the arms of Jesus and be a guardian angel for the ones she cherished.