CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Myra Sherman, author, social worker, mental health therapist, and gentle and kind soul, passed away peacefully on Nov. 29, 2015, with her family at her side at her home on Cache Creek in Clearlake.

She continued to live her life as she wished after being diagnosed with mesothelioma, spending her time writing and enjoying the birds and other wildlife she could see from her window and deck.

Myra was born June 18, 1942, in Bayonne, New Jersey, and was preceded in death by her mother Leah Ash Bornstein and her father Norton Harold Bornstein.

Myra is survived by loving brothers, Henry Bornstein and Steven Bornstein; her sisters-in-law, Gae Henry and Maureen Bornstein; her aunt, Mildred Bornstein; her niece, Allie Bornstein; her niece, Devin Catalli and husband Tony; her nephew, Nathan Bornstein and wife Katrina; her great-niece, Sarah Marie Bornstein; and by numerous cousins and many dear friends.

Myra’s family moved to Southern California’s San Fernando Valley in 1951, where Myra spent her youth with her father, mother and two brothers.

After living in Israel and upstate New York, Myra moved to Napa, Calif., where she could be close to and care for her mother, Leah. Myra finally settled in Berkeley, Calif. She loved hiking along the California Coastal Trail and in the red rock country of Utah.  

In 2007, Myra moved to her home on Cache Creek in Lake County with her beloved dog Sadie. Myra became active in the Lake County Community Coop and as a volunteer for the Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association.

Myra devoted her life to helping others, working as a social worker and therapist, first with Vietnam veterans at the Veterans Administration hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., and later with the jail population, serving for many years as the director of the mental health programs for the Contra Costa County jails, and as a therapist specializing in patients at risk for suicide, homeless substance abusers and mentally disordered sex offenders.

Upon retirement, Myra fulfilled her dream to write about her experiences as a clinical therapist in order to give voice to the marginalized and forgotten people she worked so hard to help.

Myra’s fiction and essays have appeared in numerous print and web journals. “Jailed,” a collection of linked short stories that takes the reader inside a California county jail, was published in 2011. “Mother Mary,” a novel that tells the story of how a homeless woman wakes up to find herself handcuffed in a locked psychiatric ward, was published in 2014.

Myra’s family and friends will remember her quick smile, kind and caring nature, and how she worked so hard all of her life to help those in need who were so often ignored by those around them. We are comforted that she has left her writings as a lasting legacy.

A celebration of her wonderful life is planned for the spring of 2016. The family suggests that any donations in Myra’s name may be made to Hospice Services of Lake County.