Hard work is no stranger to Mrs. June

The epitome of a strong woman, June Sherman has retired after more than a half century of working two different careers, but not to a life of leisure.

"I'm just going to be home to do what I want to do for a change ... " she said. "... cleaning house or going out on the farm.

"I like to garden, I like to can. I've canned all my life ... but now I won't have to do it at night. I used to have to stay up until 1 in the morning to do it!"

"I love to read. I don't sew anymore because it hurts my back. I made all the kids' clothes," she said. "I'm a homebody. It's nice to be gone a day or two, but I don't like to be gone any longer than that."

Sherman -- or Mrs. June, as she is affectionately called by all who know her -- is a perfectionist, more demanding of herself than of others. The diminutive, white-haired 76-year-old was the only girl of the five children born to Oak and Edith Johnson on a small dairy farm in Anderson, Mo. She learned to work early and continues that legacy to this day.

"I don't know what we would have done all these years without her," her daughter, Dr. Karen Sherman, said, of her mother's help at the clinic she owns and operates -- Oak View Animal Clinic.

"She could basically run everything here herself ... and did until recently.

"Without a doubt, she was the one most focused on making sure everything was done right."

Mrs. June graduated from Pineville High School then moved to Wichita, Kan., for a year as a nanny. At 19, she married Clyde Sherman and had their first child a year later. Together they had four children, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

"We have a farm. I worked on the farm, helped feed cows, kept the accounts," Mrs. June said. All those years of raising children, Mrs. June worked at family services, worked on the farm, grew and canned vegetables to feed her family and sewed clothes for her children. She also gathered 8,000 eggs daily from the chicken houses. She made sure those children went to school and learned to work.

"She built fence," Dr. Karen said. "I've seen her sit on her butt and slide down the hill with a fence post."

Good with numbers, she takes care of the books at home, too. "We have an irrevocable trust. I do all the books daily -- that's just what I do, I've always done that," she said as a matter of fact.

For 30 years, Mrs. June was a case worker at family services while raising her children and working on the farm. She is no stranger to trials including her home burning to the ground in 1964 and being bitten by a copperhead snake while Dr. Sherman was but 1 year old.

"It was Karen's fault," she said smiling impishly. "When we first got that farm, there were lots of snakes on it. We killed 52 copperheads that summer. It was so bad that when it got dusk, we would holler 'snake time' and the children would come in the house. She (Karen) snuck out the back door and I ran out the back door to find her and when I stepped out ... it got me."

A week later, Mrs. June was stung by a wasp, something she claims hurt worse than the snake bite. She said the doctor said the extreme pain was because of the snake venom still in her body. She was allergic to the anti-venom, she said, and could do nothing but pack her leg in ice.

"She didn't have anybody to work on Saturday," Mrs. June said about beginning at the clinic. At one point, she returned to work six months for family services, helping when they called and working two days a week at the clinic. Then when she retired from family services, she worked full time at the clinic.

The clinic opened in 1994 and Mrs. June began working there the beginning of 1995. There are now 17 employees at Oak View and Mrs. June said she has never pulled the "mom" card.

"I'm 'Mom' away from here, but here I'm an employee," she said. "I've always, in my mind, this is where I'm an employee."

Dr. Karen has a sign that states "My boss calls me Mom."

"All the employees call her Mrs. June," Dr. Sherman said.

"My name is June. I was born in June. I married in June," Mrs. June grinned.

"She's like a grandmother to everyone here," clinic employee Hailey Biddinger said. "She takes care of everyone. She loves to tell stories. She's a great cook!"

"She's the sweetest lady I've every known," vet tech Alyssa Lane said.

Sara Martfeld, clinic employee, said: "We love Mrs. June. She's the hardest working woman I know."

Receptionist Sandy Walker said: "She was a pleasure to work with."

Mrs. June recalled when her daughter Karen was a senior in veterinary school at Louisiana State University, "I had no problem until her senior year at the vet school because I knew she wouldn't be home anymore... she'd be cutting the family tie. She became her own woman, not dependent on her mom."

"I'm proud of all my four kids. I have four really wonderful kids!"

Mrs. June's children, in addition to Dr. Karen, are Alesia Parish of Noel, Mo.; Sandra Rickman of Pineville, Mo.; and Aaron Sherman of Anderson, Mo.

Business on 03/14/2018