Family Of Late Patch Editor Sherri Lonon Needs Your Help

LAND O’ LAKES, FL — The family of former Tampa Bay-area Patch editor Sherri VandeSande Lonon is reeling from a second devastating loss. Lonon, the longtime newspaper and digital editor in the Tampa region, died Jan. 11 after a brief battle with cancer. Her husband, lifelong Land O’ Lakes resident Terry Lonon, died June 23 from complications due to Type 1 diabetes.

The couple is survived by their children, Chelsea, 18, and Ashley, 13, who must now cope with expenses and legal obligations as they grieve losing both parents in such a short span.

The family had set up two GoFundMe campaigns over the past 10 months: The first was to help the family with medical and household expenses after Sherri Lonon was diagnosed with cancer. The second – which remains active – was set up to help support the Lonon children when Terry went into a diabetic coma the week before his death.

"Sherri was one of the hardest-working and most dedicated reporters I've known in my career, and she was a brilliant and often hilarious writer,” said Warren St. John, Patch’s CEO. “She was also uniquely passionate about local news — and the people that news affected — in the Tampa area. We miss her every day at Patch."

Friends of the Lonon family said the feeling was mutual.

“Working at Patch was really part of Sherri’s soul,” said Carla Vanderweerd, a childhood friend of the Lonons who is helping the Lonon children manage the family’s estate. “She lived to help her community and she worked diligently to help spread the word about what was going on locally and within the Florida region. Agencies sought her out to share news of their programs and many people came to rely on her as a source for professional coverage about events and issues happening outside their door.”

Patch announced today it will donate $10,000 to the online fundraiser, and editors hope readers who appreciated Sherri’s work will give what they are able to donate.

Because the Lonons died without a will, the family’s assets are tied up in probate. While Ashley is eligible to receive assistance from Social Security as a minor child, Chelsea is not, despite the fact she was a dependent.

“They don’t have anything right now,” their aunt, Lena Fernandez, said. “They have to have something to fix up their house. They have to pay filing fees during probate.”

In the long term, the Patch donation will go toward the children’s education, according to Vanderweerd and Fernandez. The plan is to use the money to make repairs to the Lonon house to put the house on the market. A Realtor working with the family said this investment could improve the value of the house by $60,000.

“The donation really gives Chelsea and Ashley stability in the short term and it gives the family the ability to leverage assets to exponentially help the children,” Vanderweerd said. “It’s a gift that really is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Lonon Family Searching For Lost Musical Equipment

An accomplished musician, Terry Lonon played multiple types of guitars, wrote several songs, and was the highly regarded lead singer of the local band Blisterine. When not performing with his own band, Terry would often fill in with other local acts.

Video of Terry Lonon singing with the band Blisterine

However, some of the musical instruments he’s collected have turned up missing, including two Behringer powered 15” PA speakers with stands and a 32-channel Xair mixer. Also missing is an SJ 200 Gibson, one of three guitars Terry bought with the intention of giving to his daughters.

The family is looking to spread the word around the community in hopes of finding the instruments before reporting the loss to the police. If anyone has information about the missing instruments, contact Lena Fernandez at lenafernandez816@gmail.com.

You can donate to the Lonon family on the Funding for the Lonon Family campaign on GoFundMe. So far, about $5,300 has been donated toward the $10,000 goal.

GoFundMe is a Patch promotional partner.

Photos of the Sherri and Terry Lonon family courtesy of the family