HorseMarines.com

SHARON KAY “MISS JERRI” CAMARCO (BYRD)
March 24, 1944 ~ August 11, 2020

Devout full-Gospel Christian, native-born Texan of English/Irish heritage, loyal friend to the USMC and U.S. Patriot, Sharon Kay Camarco, affectionately known by her nickname “Miss Jerri”, was called home to the Lord, passing away peacefully at her daughter’s home in Washington State, USA on August 11, 2020. She was 76 years old.

Miss Jerri was preceded in death by her mother Doris Byrd (Curlee), father Otha Lee Byrd, Sr., both of Freeport, Texas, older brother Otha Lee Byrd, Jr. of Wichita, Kansas, and older sister Pauline Wise of Houston, Texas. Jerri was previously married and divorced, to the late Lynel Savoy of Freeport, Texas and then married and divorced to the late Michael Camarco, Jr. of New Mexico/Arizona. Jerri is survived by her only child, daughter Lea, a granddaughter, two great-grandchildren and several nieces. She leaves behind her beloved pets; several Texas rescue cats and her trusty steed, a huge teddy bear of a black Trekkaner horse named Warrior Ben (Benny), all of whom now have a forever home with her daughter.

MINI BIO:
“Miss Jerri” was born Sharon Kay Byrd on March 24, 1944 to Otha Lee Byrd, Sr. and Doris Byrd (Curlee) in Velasco, Texas. Her parent’s lineage comprised of persons significant to the history and founding of Virginia and Texas statehoods. She was a descendant of the landed gentry Byrds of England and Virginia, was a 4th Great-Granddaughter of James Hope, one of The Old Three Hundred, the first 300 Anglo families to settle in Texas and was a 3rd Great-Granddaughter of Thomas Gay, who fought in the Battle of San Jacinto and served as one of the first Texas Rangers.

Known in childhood by her middle name Kay, she grew up around horses and renown Texan horse trainers of the 1950s, often visiting her uncle Doc Curlee who was a foreman on the world-renown King Ranch. Kay showed a natural affinity with horses at a very young age, possessing the ability to train and ride horses that were often too difficult for others to manage.

As a kid, Kay was known to ride her horse all around Freeport and Brazoria County, Texas with her childhood cowgirl friends. She attended Brazosport High School. Doris, her beloved mother, passed away when Kay was only 13 years old.

At age 19, Kay married her high school sweetheart, Lynel John Savoy, in Freeport, Texas. They had one child, daughter Lea. It was Lynel who gave her the nickname “Jerri” in high school and it stuck for the rest of her life. Soon after their daughter was born, Kay and Lynel separated and divorced.

After her divorce from Lynel Savoy, Jerri eventually met Michael Camarco, then a newspaper publisher and later an electronic component salesman, and they soon married and relocated to the Dallas metro area.

In her early 20s, she worked as a cosmetician for Merle Norman in Brazoria County, Texas, and later as a kindergarten teacher for a private school in Dallas, Texas.

From the late 1960s – 1981, Jerri developed into a professional horse trainer. She started training and selling horses, showing client’s horses in competitions, offering horse boarding, riding instruction, organizing trail rides and operated a Christian horsemanship summer camp business over the years in the Texas cities of Garland, Lavon-Royce City, Kingston-Celeste, and finally establishing Rising Sun Farm in Farmersville. Jerri developed a reputation for being one of the most sought after horse trainers and riding lesson instructors in the greater Dallas, Hunt and Collin County areas. Her clients ranged from the rich and famous to modest income families. She also owned and co-trained the Appaloosa World Champion in Reining purebred stallion named “Strawberry’s Dude G.P”. with lineage from breeder George Palmer’s Appaloosas.

In mid-1981, Jerri and her family relocated to the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, along with 2 Jack Russell Terriers, the first known of their breed to be brought to the islands, and several horses, including the first registered Trekkaner brought to Hawaii. Soon, she was training polo horses for Bob Shriver, President of the Hawaii Polo Association polo facility, and came in contact with many famous celebrities and world dignitaries. Around this time, Jerri and husband Michael parted ways and divorced. She would remain single for the remainder of her life.

In the mid 1980s, Jerri entered the U.S. Civil Service, being hired to manage the horse stables and teaching riding lessons at Camp H.M. Smith in central Oahu. The stables were for the USMC families recreational use, but soon she coordinated with the Marine Command to use the stable’s horses to patrol the dense jungle areas of Camp Smith where the jeeps could not travel, to deter trespassers and illegal drug growers, and rescue hikers and joggers who were lost in the areas impassable to vehicles. Miss Jerri became the first female civilian to train mounted military patrols for the U.S. Dept. of Defense. It is believed that she still holds that record to this very day.

In 1990, Jerri relocated to an assignment in the mainland at Ft. Rucker, with the Army Aviation Center in Daleville, Alabama, where she trained the U.S. Army’s “Top Gun” helicopter base in Escape and Evasion Operations with “downed” pilots using equine-mounted insurgents for Third World scenarios. There, she also managed a million dollar equestrian facility for the military families.

In 1994, Jerri accepted an assignment to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and managed the base’s recreational facility of horse stables, paintball course, trail bike shop, and a marina with boat rentals. At the time, the base held Cuban refugees escaping political persecution from Castro for eventual naturalization into the U.S. Some of the Cuban refugees were allowed to work at the stables and Jerri learned from their firsthand stories just how horrific it was living under the Castro regime. At this time, Jerri was also embedded to train the USMC Military Police to patrol on horseback the infamously dangerous Cuban/Gitmo fonterra fenceline riddled with landmines on the Cuba side. She ended up training many young new Marines, most whom had never even ridden a horse before, into becoming highly-skilled USMC Mounted Police patrol units.

Eventually, the base Commander was required to close the Guantanamo Bay horse facility, so Jerri coordinated the logistics to save the horses and honor them for their long service to the military, servicemembers and their families by relocating them via airlift to the United States for retirement to pasture.

In 2001, Jerri accepted a position at USMC Barstow Command in Barstow, California to manage and train the base’s BLM-adopted wild matching Palomino American mustangs used for the USMC Color Guard Unit, which performs at the yearly Rose Bowl Parade and many other public appearances as public relations for the United States Marine Corps.

In 2004, Jerri was assigned to Quantico Base in Virginia to salvage their horse facility, which via prior mismanagement, had cost overruns that required it to be eventually privatized. Jerri soon transferred to an Area Coordinator position, planning and supplying events for various organizations within the Quantico Base, primarily for the Marine Corps University/War College, the FBI Training Academy and for other USMC-related entities such as the HMX-1 Presidential Helicopter Squadron.

In 2010, Jerri retired from Quantico after over 24 years in the U.S. Civil Service, a distinguished career of exemplary service to the U.S. military objectives, servicemembers, civilians and their families. She left a legacy of teaching vast numbers of individuals important life lessons about themselves, from working to earn the trust of a horse.

Throughout her adult life, Jerri was a prolific illustrator, specializing in equine and Western art, having given most of her artwork away to friends and family, painting murals and backdrops for charity and theater sets, and just before retirement, she donated a historic-based painting of a U.S. China Horse Marine on patrol from the Boxer-Rebellion era, which now hangs at the Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia.

Upon retirement in 2010, Jerri returned to Brazoria, in her beloved Texas, to share a home with her childhood friend, the late Jeanie Anctil (Toomer), dressing up in their Western clothes, riding horses, and having crazy fun like they did as kids together, as the last of the old-timey cowgirls. Near 70 years old, Jerri earned her brown belt in Kung Fu from a Master with a student descendancy from Bruce Lee, a lifelong dream that meshed with her love for ancient Chinese history. Jerri also started new colts for a local rancher. These would be the last horses she would break to ride.

In 2015, Jerri relocated to Washington State to live with her daughter and be closer to her granddaughter and 2 great-grandchildren. Her pastimes included attending church, horseback riding the Pacific Northwest trails, day trips to the mountains, kite flying at the beach, going to the movies, researching and documenting her family’s genealogy, searching for the perfect hamburger and Tex-Mex joints, attending summer festivals and museum exhibitions, thrift shopping, spending time with her great-grandchildren and working on the USMC military history content for this HorseMarines.com site.

HorseMarines.com will be completed by her daughter, using Jerri’s journals, research notes, media clippings, videos and photographs.

HorseMarines.com content will available for public viewing in the future as the legacy of Jerri’s undying love for horses and her contribution to the United States Marine Corps and Horse Marines history.

On August 17, 2024, “Miss Jerri” was finally laid to rest in her parent’s plot in Restwood Memorial Park, Clute, Texas ~ Brazoria County. Services included a Celebration of Life event at Wild Peach Community Church in Brazoria, Texas with Miss Jerri’s daughter telling the story of her mother’s life, surrounded by family and friends to remember their favorite cowgirl and afterwards, to enjoy her favorite Tex-Mex food together at the reception.

Jerri’s family wish to express their deepest gratitude to all of her civilian and military friends, co-workers, and fellow church parishioners who became her extended family and moral support while she was serving in her 24 years of Civil Service assignments, in areas of the world so far away from her own family.

An adventuresome life well-lived and well-loved.

Rest in Peace, Miss Jerri.
Happy Trails and Semper Fi.