Sherry Lee Ripple Ludwick

Sherry Lee Ripple Ludwick, 62, of Celebration, FL, passed away after years of health setbacks and a hard fought 6 months of hospitalization peacefully on the 12th of August 2024.

Sherry was born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, in January of 1962 to Deanne Ruth Cottrill Ripple and Larry William Ripple. Sherry was part of a large, loving Pittsburgh family whose siblings and cousins remained close and involved in each other's lives, even as they grew and dispersed to different parts of the country, maintaining those meaningful, loving connections across time and distance. The heart & soul of this close-knit, extended family was our parents, Larry & Deanne. They were “Mom & Dad” or “Uncle Larry & Aunt Deanne” or “PapPap & Grandma” to anyone and everyone in their lives. The unconditional love & support they gave to all of us instilled in us a fierce desire to love and protect each other with all of our hearts. This meant always making an effort to be together…in the form of large, loud gatherings filled with good food, laughter and love. These gatherings were truly Sherry’s most treasured times - as they were for Mom & Dad - and she ferociously worked to carry on those precious traditions. In her career as a long-distance truck driver, she would often make plans to meet for dinner with family members as she traveled through their hometowns to see those dear loved ones, even if for just a few hours.

Though Sherry and her family moved to Florida in November of 1972, Sherry spent most of her adult life living a nomadic life, choosing work that allowed her to travel and see the country. Family members would delight in the beautiful photos she would share of sunsets and beautiful vistas around the United States. 

Sherry first married when she was 18 years old, but only spent 2 short years with her beloved Michael Ruohonen before tragedy struck and she lost him in a motorcycle accident. This loss bonded her even more to her mother, father and sisters as she endeavored to carry on. Sherry would find love again, marrying her teenage friend and love, Michael Ludwick. Over time they would part ways, while remaining friends - dear, close friends literally until the day she died. She would often say that they loved each other, they just could not live together, and that while he was a goofball, he was HER goofball. Mike was the person that she trusted to care for her beloved, sweet angel of a dog, Sweetie. Mike would often bring Sweetie to visit Sherry over these past difficult months, including the day before she passed away.

Sherry found work that would keep her busy and on the move, working very hard to help her mother establish a home answering service where she made lifelong friends that she was still in touch with until her death. Sherry had various driving jobs driving taxis, limousines, delivery vehicles - delivering anything from medicine to photograph orders to lost airport luggage, often with Mike, her niece Amanda or others travelling around with her. I am sure that this is the source of her love of storage “totes” - Sherry ALWAYS had her stash of filled and empty totes. Then she took the leap and trained to be a long-distance truck driver and she loved the adventure of living on the road and seeing the country. She enjoyed the challenges that the seasons brought and prided herself on her ability to safely make it to her destinations despite the challenges. Sherry retired in 2017 after breaking her hip while parking her truck in Albuquerque. From this unfortunate incident Sherry received some compensation that allowed her to live comfortably until entering the hospital in February of 2024. 

Sherry’s generous heart, sense of humor, and love of family (which does not just mean people born into your family) are some of her most beloved traits. It was famously known that “Aunt Sherry” always made sure that the kids in her life “had Christmas”, often going on Walmart shopping trips checking off the list to make sure each child had something they really wanted or needed. And then she would go around delivering her gifts like a smiley, red-headed Santa Sherry. Her niece Amanda tells a story of when she was just a young adult in her very first home of her own, Aunt Sherry insisted that she needed a Christmas tree and took her shopping for a tree and all the decorations, decorations she kept for many years, always remembering her special aunt’s loving gesture. All of her nieces and nephews, cousins and friends could add to this story, their stories of how Sherry would generously give her last dime to bring joy to the people she loved. Or I should say people and pets. Her pets were also her loves, from our childhood dog, Fancy, to her sweet Angel, to her cuties, Peanut and Sweetie. Sherry was a loving dog mom to her fur babies.

These past 6 months our Sherry fought with all she had to overcome her illnesses…she did this with a smile, even when it was hard to smile. Because if you know Sherry and what she has been through you know that she was a Bad Ass! That she has overcome hardships in her life -losses, heartbreak - and she kept a smile and an open heart and we were all blessed to be her family and live in the beautiful light of her love. Her sisters were by her side, fighting for her and encouraging her to overcome yet another seemingly impossible hardship so that she could live her dream…to visit Alaska! We were making plans to take a family trip to Alaska once she recovered and as we promised her, we will be making that trip in her honor.

Sherry was preceded in death by her much loved parents, Larry and Deanne Ripple; her beloved husband Michael Ruohonen; our precious aunts & uncles, who were our surrogate grandparents, Aunt Jean & Uncle Joe Pitonyak, Aunt Patty & Uncle Paul Ritchey; our dear sister/cousin Nancy Tirik; and cousin Joe Tirik; and our “Putt Putt” our cherished sister, Patty Jean. Sherry and Patty shared a special bond of sisters who loved and married best friends: Michael Ruohonen and Mark Cooley and her memories of this were some of her most treasured.

She is survived by her sisters & best friends, Pamela Hill and her husband, Michael Skinner, and Susan Doepke and her husband Donald; her cherished nieces & nephews: Amanda Holmberg and her husband, Andrew; and their children, great-nephews, Parker & Caiden, and Ashley Garrison and her husband Sean; and their children, great nephews Liam & Lane; Patrick Goad, Brittany Goad, Bradley Goad and his partner Jimmy Earp, Nicholas D’Alessandro, and Cherokee Hill. In addition, she is survived by her dear husband and friend, Michael Ludwick; her “sisters in life”, Patty Pitonyak Cobb and her husband, Jim, and their son Ryan, and Patti Broderick. Her cousin/brother, Michael Tirik; cousins Stephan, Katherine, Anthony, Jayden, Joseph, Brielle & Brynleigh.

Plus her large clan of extended family of cousins whose visits and family gatherings were a delight in her life. If you are not named here…please know that we are thinking of all of you as we know this loss is a heartbreaking loss for so many.

It should be noted that her sister Pam spent these past several years by Sherry’s side. Taking care of her, and spending time with her. Their weekly pedicures, shopping trips, family visits were frequent and meant the world to both of them. 

Sherry will be honored at Newcomer Funeral Home, 895 S. Goldenrod Rd, Orlando beginning with a gathering at 2pm and a memorial service at 3pm on Saturday, August 31st, 2024.

You may also join us for Sherry’s memorial service remotely by joining the livestream by clicking below.

To share your memories of Sherry or leave a special message of condolence for her family, please visit and sign the guestbook below.