Help Us Give Sherry Perez A Beautiful Burial

("I may not be rich and famous, but I have priceless grandchildren" )


I am making this GoFundMe because we really need help with the expenses of laying my grandmother to rest.

About my Grandma:

My grandma was a star.  She ran away from her small Tennessee town in the 1950s and joined the circus when she was 16 and became the electric light girl. She stood on boxes and held a light bulb in her mouth that lit up as the big finale. She always lit up every room she was in for her whole life.

Sherry was wild. She loved to wear sexy clothes even though it was unusual in her conservative town and stole motorcycles as a kid and ran around her rural Tennessee town with her sisters, always getting into some trouble and having fun and looking out for them. She moved to California in the 1960s and became dancer in Long Beach and wore white GoGo boots all the way up to her knees and even was in Playboy once- one of our family’s proud memories. She actually changed her name to Sherry because she loved to dance to "Sherry Baby" back in the day.  When I was born in the 1980s she slowed down to help my mom raise me, but I still remember her wearing her playboy bunny outfit and roller skates around the apartment. 


Her last dancing gig was such a fitting gig for her, being a dancer in Alice Bag's "Se Cree Joven" music video. This was actually the last day she was able to walk in Spring 2018, but she still had so much youthful energy, and loved to brag about it to all of her nurses and doctors. 



She loved coffee and movies and classic country music and shopping. She was a femme icon and the biggest flirt I ever knew. She taught me everything about standing up for myself and for others. She was beautiful and hilarious and wild and free.


The Last Year:

We lost my grandma last week after not being able to see her for an entire year because of healthcare facility restrictions. She had a lifesaving surgery in February of 2020 and had to go into an aftercare facility just as the pandemic started. She beat Covid-19 in December, but the doctors think her heart infection  was due to complications from Covid-19. Her infection came on suddenly the last week of March, and we we finally were able to see her 4 hours a day for the last 7 days of her life, and spend her final hours with her. My mom and I are devastated. My grandma Sherry was my other parent. She meant everything to my mom and me. 

Financial Need:

I am making this GoFundMe because we really need help with the expenses of laying my grandmother to rest. My grandmother grew up in extreme poverty and she always did her best, but  struggled financially for her whole life.  My mom has always managed to take care of our family with what little money she had, but has struggled to get out of generational poverty as well. My brother died in 2019 and I used what little money I had saved for his service. There are no other family members to help. My mom and I are the only immediate surviving family and we have no savings. I've been sending any extra money I've had over the last year to help my mom with her bills and with her move.

We want to give my grandmother the funeral she deserves.

We need to pay for a casket,  the vault,  a headstone, end of life expenses and cemetery fees. I have some of my stimulus check left and some available credit, but that will only cover about 1/10 of what we need to pay for. 



We are getting my grandmother a beautiful white casket with pink trim that we know she would love. We will be having a small grave side service and she will be laid to rest with my grandpa Arnold, who she loved so very much. They wanted to be buried together and we are so happy to be able to fulfill this final wish. We want to get them a couples head stone, which cost anywhere between $2000-$5000. 


We are so grateful for any help that anyone is able to give us, any amount of money helps. It sucks that everything is so expensive and unfortunately because my grandma was disabled and low income she was not able to have any kind of life insurance. I would not be asking for money if we didn't absolutely need it. We need the funds in the next couple of weeks. 

My grandmother used to always tell me before I would leave for tour "Even when I'm not with you, I'm with you." I know she is with me and will be. I want to give her a beautiful respectful burial, one that she deserves. She always supported me as a kid and as an adult,  with my music and creativity, in my queerness,  and with my education. She got me my first skateboard, my first musical instruments, and even slipped me $100 out of her SSI for school supplies when I started grad school and told me not to tell my mom.  She was/is a beautiful person and I am so grateful that I got to have her as my grandmother. 

Thank you / other ways to support:

Thank you again to everyone for your care and love for my grandmother and for me and my mom.  Any amount of money is helpful and we are so grateful for your support. You can also Venmo me since there is not service fee there @Candace-Hansen-2. I would be stoked to give you a print or a zine or a button from any of my work in return after the service. We appreciate anyone sharing this GoFundMe if you can't donate. 



Thank you; we love you all so much.