Cheryl Irene Duxbury

Cheryl Irene Duxbury of Gilbert, Arizona peacefully rose from her home, surrounded by love, to her heavenly home at 3:30 am on Saturday, May 16, 2026, after a long journey with breast cancer. She was 46 years old, having entered this world on January 15, 1980, in Bend, Oregon.

Cheryl saw the beauty in the natural world but more especially the magnificence in every person she met. If she knew you, she loved you. Her love for people was matched by her love towards God. She built her faith in Him by choosing to trust Him every day, surrendering to His timing, His will, and His care. She saw His hand in her life through the friendship and service of others.

Cheryl lit up her surroundings with her gorgeous smile and enlivened the atmosphere with her joyful, bursty laughter, a hallmark of her presence. From a very young age, she got a kick out of being a tease. Paradoxically and hauntingly beautifully, her carefree nature was balanced by her deep sensitivity to others’ feelings.

Cheryl was kind, generous, considerate, patient, benevolent, beautiful, caring, optimistic, grateful, genuine, hopeful, creative, spunky, fun, radiant, approachable, and young at heart. She experienced true happiness for others’ successes as there was not a jealous bone in her body. She showered others with compliments and words of encouragement. She uplifted others even in the times of her greatest suffering. While she was a bit of a people pleaser, she was also an expert peacemaker. She was slow to take offense and often gave immediate grace and forgiveness when someone gave her cause to be offended. She prioritized relationships over possessions. All who knew her found solace in their friendship with her. They took comfort in knowing they could share any good news with her and she would rejoice with them. They also knew they could open up about any challenge or heartache, and she would empathize with them. She validated people’s feelings. She sought to ease or take away their pain. Cheryl was an emotional support for many loved ones.

Cheryl graduated from Chandler High School in 1998, from Chandler Gilbert Community College in 2001, and from Arizona State University in 2003 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art with a concentration in Photography.

She had an eye for beauty and balance. Cheryl was endowed with or perhaps carefully cultivated the rare gift of seeing beauty and finding the good in every person and in just about every unfortunate situation. Her loving, observant eyes cut through appearances, landing on others’ core positive attributes and then upholding them by the light of their divine heritage as children of God, tenderly overlooking human frailties and flaws and readily granting forgiveness to any and all.

Cheryl married the love of her life, Kirk Arthur Duxbury, in the Mesa Arizona Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on December 15, 2007. They became parents to Luke in October 2008 and Brynn in December 2010. The Duxbury family resided in Mesa, Arizona until January of 2012 when they moved to Texas for Kirk to start chiropractic school at Parker University. Autumn joined the Duxbury crew in December 2014. In March 2016, Kirk completed his schooling and the family relocated to Mesa, Arizona until 2025, at which time they moved to Gilbert.

Caring for her family was undeniably Cheryl’s most cherished responsibility. She was fiercely loyal to her husband and the biggest cheerleader for their precious children. She happily, willingly, and selflessly supported Kirk throughout the arduous years of his chiropractic schooling. She enjoyed Kirk’s company, loved his sense of humor, and appreciated his spiritual leadership; she embraced Luke’s steadiness, tender care, and intuitive compassion; she honored Brynn’s sociability, vivaciousness, and ability to accomplish tasks quickly in order to move on to more enjoyable activities; and she adored Autumn’s gratitude, good-natured personality, and kindness. She loved praying with her family, reading and studying scriptures together, and tucking her children in at night. She absolutely adored each family member. She was proud to be Kirk’s wife and was overcome with gratitude to be the mother to their three gorgeous children.

Cheryl’s graduation from this life has left a gaping hole in the hearts of many. Knowing Cheryl, she would want us to acknowledge that pain and soothe that ache by looking upward to heaven and then outward to our fellow man. Her family and friends wish they could hold her in their arms. As their guardian angel, they know she instead is taking them in hers, enveloping them in light and love. In our grief, may we remember two of her favorite scriptures, Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” and also Doctrine and Covenants 6:36: “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.”

Cheryl had and continues to have categorical gratitude for the ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ that bind her to Him through holy covenants and that provide a way for her family relationships to be perpetuated beyond death. She is beyond thankful to receive this gift and to be reunited with Kirk and to continue her eternal calling as a mother to their beloved son, Luke, and as a mother to their beloved daughters, Brynn and Autumn.

We will miss our dear Cheryl, whose name means darling or beloved, for the rest of our lives. Interestingly, her middle name Irene means peace, from the Greek goddess of peace and the spring season, Eirene, embodying harmony, unity, and tranquility. Cheryl Irene, may the peace you now know be given to us in doses large enough to soothe our aching hearts, and to give us the courage and strength to continue onward with love, gratitude, purpose, and joy—having known sorrow. And may that same peace you now live and breathe be showered upon us, too, in full measure, one sweet day, when we are reunited with you and with our other loved ones now hidden from view.

Cheryl is survived by her husband, Kirk Duxbury, and their three beautiful children, Luke, Brynn, and Autumn. On Kirk’s side, she was preceded in death by his aunt Susan Dedman in 2021 and is survived by Kirk’s parents, Don Duxbury (Ginny) and Karen Drake (Dan), as well as Kirk’s three sisters, Jennifer Duxbury, Alyssa Prewitt, and Lauren Drake (Jeff Miller) and treasured niece Jaylen and adored nephews Harrison and Grayson. The youngest of four children, Cheryl is survived by her older sisters, Marilyn McDonald (Patrick Nouvion) and Kathleen Allen (Daniel); her sister-in-law, Miranda Jensen Bulback (Ryan); Cheryl’s parents, Don and June Byrne; and her beloved nephews and nieces, Callahn, Symphany, William, Isabelle, and Coulson. Cheryl is also survived by close friends who are akin to sisters and who generously gave of their time, energy, cooking skills, organizational skills, delegation skills, and many other talents, being a listening ear and tenderly caring for her and her family—complete earthly angels, especially in the final months, weeks, days, and last moments before Cheryl was transformed into a heavenly angel. Cheryl was preceded in death by her brother, Steven Byrne, in 2017 and by her grandparents, Elmer McClure in 1961, Craig Byrne in 1984, Arcel Lunt in 1999, her eponym Irene McClure in 2006, and Ruth Byrne in 2013 as well as by her aunt Carolyn McClure in 1942, her uncle Gerald “Jerry” McClure in 1976, her uncle Robert “Bob” Byrne in 2020, her aunt JoAnne (née Neff) McClure Blackley in 2022 and cousins Marianne (née McClure) Gomm in 2013 and Melinda “Mindy” McClure in 2025.

Memorial services will be held Saturday, May 30, 2026, at 4:30 pm.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

555 S. Recker Rd.

Gilbert, AZ 85296

If you would like to make a donation to the Duxbury family, Venmo donations can be sent directly to @Kirk-Duxbury