The Log Cabin lost one of its own on Thursday when Circulation Director Karl Sherwood, 54, died at his home in Conway.
His wife, Elaine Sherwood, said she hopes people who knew her husband will remember "how much fun he was. He was a social magnet. He loved to tease, and he could take teasing, and he loved having fun."
She added those who knew him should "Just remember the good times and the quiet times and the special times they may have had with him."
She said her husband had "tons of friends."
"He didn't meet a stranger. He was always outgoing. He always tried to include everyone in things."
The couple observed their 31st wedding anniversary on June 29, she said.
"They were a good 31 years," she said. "We actually met at a church function where he was chaperoning. I was sitting on the couch holding hands with another young man. Karl sat down on my other side and grabbed my other hand and asked (the young man), 'Lee, who's this?' A year later, we were married."
Cliff Garrison of Hendrix College worked with Sherwood when Garrison was head basketball coach and athletic director. Garrison estimated Sherwood worked at Hendrix three or four years, leaving in 2003.
"Karl worked with me as facilities manager when I was in athletics," he said. "He was a wonderful staff member. He took an interest in all the student athletics and was an encourager for them. He was a fine man of character and integrity. We're going to miss him."
John McKinney is the bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints of Conway, where Sherwood was a member. McKinney has been the bishop of the church for a year but has known Sherwood for many years, he said.
"I met him in 1976 through our church. He had just returned home from a two-year mission for our church in Norway. He spoke fluent Norwegian. I had been on a mission to New York state. We met here at church. That's how I got to know him through church activity," McKinney said.
He said Sherwood was very active and involved in the church from his youth.
"He was someone who was very helpful. He continually had a project in play to help someone do something, either to move or make a repair on their home. That wasn't limited at all to members of our church. He helped a lot of people obtain cars who delivered the newspaper. He was very helpful to help them secure another car and help them through the issues in their lives. He was very familiar with the daily grind that we all go through to make things work in our own homes."
McKinney noted Sherwood was also involved in the Central Arkansas Sport Club.
"He was also quite a football player and basketball player in his youth and definitely a Wampus Cat fan," he added.
Coworkers at the Log Cabin say Sherwood regarded them like family.
Log Cabin Publisher Scot Morrissey said, "He was always cheerful. He walked around here with a cheerful spirit. He was very much concerned about everybody here like they were family, not coworkers. He was more worried about everyone else than himself, always."
Employee Kim Beard said of Sherwood, "He was just a good guy. He was always happy. He had a sense of compassion and could sense when there was a need. He was always there for help or support. You never had to ask him. He was always there as a friend, like a guardian angel. He was one of the kindest people I have ever known. He will be missed."
(Staff writer Rachel Parker Dickerson can be reached by e-mail at rachel.dickerson@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1277. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)
