Obituary of Cheryl Ann LaPerna
Cheryl Ann Steimling LaPerna of East Brunswick, NJ passed away peacefully on April 24th, after a brief illness.
Born in 1950 to Allen and Shirley Steimling of Spotswood, NJ, Cheryl embraced her theatrical side early, performing in community productions as well as local choirs. While she continued to exhibit that creative flair throughout her life, she also excelled in her professional career, spending nearly 40 years with AT&T, most of that in the Environmental Health and Safety division to which she was very dedicated. She was committed to her work and never took a single sick day, traveling across New Jersey year after year, visiting AT&T job sites and doing OSHA assessments to implement vital safety standards for the betterment of her colleagues.
While she took great pride in her career, her true passion was her family. As a single mother she raised two successful children, April Corvasce of Millstone Twp, NJ, a pharmacist, and Eric LaPerna, a musician and adjunct music faculty member at Bates and Bowdoin Colleges in Maine. April and Eric were her pride and joy, at least until her grandchildren came along! Cheryl enjoyed her later life doting on Eddie and Lauren Rosero and Leo LaZarate and the extended family, spending weekends cooking elaborate meals for the growing clan and welcoming all of their friends into the fold, catering to their every need. She wouldn’t bat an eye at driving an hour away to Mastoris just because someone requested cheese bread. She could be found on a nice summer evening blowing bubbles for her grandchildren or otherwise doing anything the kids wanted (except play board games). When April married Rich Corvasce, Cheryl embraced his three children as her own and became their beloved “Grammy” too.
One of her biggest passions was mastering recipes. She made chocolate cake, bubble solution, peanut brittle, and even hand-rolled cigars. She loved to test them on family members, but was always her own work’s biggest critic. Once she set her mind to something, she wouldn’t rest until she felt that she had absolutely perfected it.
An even bigger post-retirement passion of Cheryl’s was the pursuit of social justice. A fiercely principled advocate, she dedicated the rest of her life to speaking out against inequality and speaking up for the underprivileged and underserved. In the final year of her colorful and fearless life she could be found every weekend protesting with her fellow activists at the Bedminster golf course and parading the big Baby Trump balloon to rallies.
Cheryl truly embodied the best traits of humanity: she was selfless and humble, brilliant but never condescending, highly principled but open-minded, ethical but not judgmental, hilarious, endlessly curious about the world and exceedingly generous with her time, her assets and her love. Above all of this, she was the most empathetic person of them all, and instilled that concept of understanding and respecting others to both her children and grandchildren. Ultimately, she lived to help those she loved to be happy, secure and successful.
Although Cheryl spent most of her life in New Jersey, she truly gave her family the entire world. She will be missed beyond measure, but her memory will live on in her innumerable acts of kindness and generosity and the joy she shared through a life well and fully lived.
In lieu of flowers please consider a donation in Cheryl’s name to your favorite charity, an anonymous act of kindness to a stranger or a huge tip to a hardworking, unsuspecting waitress. Just sprinkle that kindness everywhere, as she did her entire life.
Cheryl is survived by her daughter April Corvasce, her son Eric LaPerna and his partner Mary Zarate and her grandchildren Eddie and Lauren Rosero and Leo LaZarate.
A private service at her son Eric’s property in Maine will be held this fall, to fulfill her wish for her ashes to be scattered on his beautiful property.
