Richard (Papa/ Dick) Russell Sherer was born on March 10, 1940. He passed away Thursday December 19,2024 at Shepherd of the Hills Living Center, following a long and heroic battle with Parkinson's Disease.
Born to Russell and Verda (Sternburg) Sherer of St. Louis, Missouri, Dick and his family moved to Chicago, Il, where he spent his early childhood, before moving back to St. Louis. It was there during his jr and high school years, he became known as an outstanding basketball player, earning a scholarship to the University of Colorado. When a knee injury cut his collegic career short, he enlisted in the army reserves, serving for 6 months before returning home to enroll in Northeast Missouri State to study business. It was during this time, he met Fern Runge. They were united in marriage on December 1, 1962.
When Dick's father retired, he decided to take his love of bowling to the Ozarks, where he had always enjoyed vacationing.  Here he and Dick built the Hillbilly Bowl. Dick and his family owned and operated  the bowl for 16 years, becoming a major part of the community through business and social affairs. Dick continued to be a part of the Kimberling and neighboring communities through many buisnes adventures including owning and operating the Best Western Kimberling Arms Resort for 7 years, serving as president of the Kimberling City Jaycees for 2 terms, helping found the original ambulance service in the Kimberling area, and being a charter member for the Kimberling United Methodist Church which originally met in the Hillbilly Bowl during church construction. Dick also served on the Reeds Spring School Board, as vice-president of the Kimberling City Rotary Club, on the Missouri Restaurant Association Board of Directors and on the Missouri Bowling Proprietors Board of Directors, as well as vice president of the Kimberling City Chamber of Commerce.
During these early years of marriage and developing the Kimberling City area, Dick and Fern had two children, Julie Anna in 1964 and David Russell in 1968.
Dick later ventured into another family business with his son, David, opening Pizza Chef in 1992.
As Dick specialized in planning and developing the resort areas around the lake, he also managed the Lawrence Welk Resort and served as general manager for both Point Royale and Stonebridge Village property owner associations.
In his free time, Dick enjoyed all things sports. He was a fan of local stock car racing, St. Louis Cardinal baseball, Colorado Buffalo College basketball, St. Louis Rams football (even after they moved to L.A.), as well as his local highschool teams. He was often found cheering on Reeds Spring, Spokane, and Galena sports as well as serving as team mentor and free throw coach for all of his son's teams.
A special thank you to Rock Steady Boxing/ Parkinson's Support Group in Branson West.
Dick is survived by his wife of 62 years, Fern Sherer, daughter Julie Sherer Kiser, son David Sherer and his wife Christy, and grandchildren- Donald Kiser (wife, Alyssa), Dawson Sherer, Chalice Sherer Conway (husband, Colsen), and Skylea Sherer. As well as sister, Vicki Barrett of Nixa, Mo, and  brothers Donald Sherer (wife, Joyce) of Independence, Mo, & Dennis Sherer of Braden, Fl.

Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, December 28th, 2:00pm at Kimberling City Methodist Church.  A visitation will be held just prior from 12:30-1:45. In lieu of flowers, please feel free to make donations to The Parkinson's Foundation of the Ozarks https://www.parkinsonsgroup.org/or the Kimberling City Methodist Church https://www.umc.org/en/