Sheryl Hurst

Terry Saunders had one child, a daughter Sheryl Hurst (born April 1959 - died May 2012) by her husband, actor James Hurst, who was younger than Saunders, who played cowboys in television westerns. The couple broke up when their daughter was about 4 years old. In her late 30s, Sheryl Hurst had been drawn to Congregation Rodeph Sholom, an Upper West Side synagogue, and she sang in its choir for years before formally converting to Judaism. Suffering from a facial deformity (explained below), Hurst was a familiar presence, but no one in the congregation knew her background. Neither of her parents was Jewish. As a teenager, Sheryl Hurst tried to kill herself, fell unconscious on a bathroom heater and badly burned her face. "A funny thing happened to me on the way to becoming Jewish", she wrote when she completed an adult bat mitzvah class in 2007. "I, an atheist, developed a strong belief and deep love for God", Sheryl commented. She had always lived with her mother and was devastated by her mother's death in April 2011. A year later, Sheryl had been looking forward to chanting at a special service, and when she did not show up, the synagogue kept trying to reach her. Finally, the cantor posted a note at her home on West 76th Street in Manhattan, appealing for information. Word came back that she had died the previous month (May 2012). She was interred on notorious Hart Island. "Everybody was just distraught", said Sally Kaplan, vice president of the congregation. "Somehow we had to bring Sheryl home." They enlisted Plaza Jewish Community Chapel, a rare nonprofit funeral home, to try to retrieve Ms. Hurst for burial in the synagogue's cemetery. The process was not an easy task and took nine months. Among many requirements was written permission from Hurst's long-estranged father, living in California. At first, he said he had not had a relationship with his daughter. But when they explained what they were doing, he wept, saying, "God bless you all." Her headstone bears not only her birth name but the Hebrew name she chose, Eliana, "because it means, 'God answered me'", and an inscription by the community that refused to leave her in the dark: "Forever in Our Hearts".