Cherie Cannon: Memorial at Christ Church June 29


 

Well-known Georgetowner Cherie Dawson Cannon died May 28 at her Q Street home.

“If you lived in Georgetown during the past 40 years you may have had the good fortune to know Cherie Cannon,” according to former Georgetowner writer Grace Bateman. “Cherie and her husband Jim lived in the tall wide house at the corner of 34th and Q Streets, N.W. Since Jim’s death in 2011, Cherie lived there alone, keeping track of village life from her kitchen window overlooking Volta park. The tree box outside Cherie’s door mirrored her cheerful personality. Instead of English ivy or boxwood, Cherie grew zinnias and marigolds, and there was usually a volunteer tomato plant or two.”

Cherie Dawson Cannon was born in Annapolis and lived for a time in New York, where Jim served as an aide to Governor Nelson Rockefeller. The Cannons moved to Georgetown in 1975 so that Jim could work as an advisor to Vice president Gerald Ford. Cherie and Jim had two sons and two grandchildren of their own, and they were honorary grandparents to neighborhood children. Cherie was active in the community, serving as executive director of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E in the late 1980s, and as a volunteer at Oak Hill Cemetery and at Christ Episcopal Church. For a time, she managed the Christ Church thrift shop.

“Cherie Cannon was a Georgetowner who cared about her community,” former Georgetowner publisher David Roffman writes. “She volunteered her services to Virginia Luce Allen’s Georgetown Senior Center untiringly. She was always present at CAG meetings and ANC meetings, often offering her opinion on local matters. She once volunteered to clean up the office of The Georgetowner but threw up her arms and said, ‘It’s like a trainwreck in the offices.’ Everyone who knew her felt she was someone special.”

A memorial service is planned for Monday, June 29, at 11 a.m. at Christ Church, 3116 O St. NW. Cannon was predeceased by her husband, James M. Cannon III, and is survived by sons James M. Cannon IV of Silver Spring, Maryland, and Scott D. Cannon of Arlington, Virginia, and two grandchildren, Dawson G. Cannon and Elizabeth Elena Cannon. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to “Women of Christ Church” in memory of Cherie Cannon.

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