Cheryl Marie Villines

Cheryl “Cheri” Marie Peters Villines died in her sleep December 20, at her home in Stone Mountain, GA, from complications of dementia.

She was born March 20, 1950, in Kansas City, MO. She graduated from Bishop Hogan High school, and completed her bachelor’s degree at Creighton University. She graduated from Georgia State University with a master of education in counseling. She was a marriage and family therapist who dedicated most of her career to child and adolescent welfare and mental health.

A talented musician, Cheri played several instruments. Her piano music was the centerpiece of many family holidays. She was a founding member of Atlanta Conundrums, a locally beloved women’s drumming group. Even after her illness robbed her of her ability to speak, she continued to drum at performances across the state.

Cheri was a lifelong activist who devoted herself to innumerable causes. Through her work at DeKalb DFCS, Devereux, the DeKalb Community Service Board, and several volunteer board appointments, she worked to radically overhaul the child welfare and mental health system in Georgia. She believed in “nothing about us without us,” and founded several boards run by mental health consumers. At a time when the notion of listening to child mental health consumers was revolutionary, Cheri encouraged organizations to put children and teenagers on their boards.

An early advocate of family reunification and wraparound services, she worked tirelessly to help struggling families stay together and thrive. She zealously advocated for foster children, for indigenous/Native American civil rights, for refugees, and for everyone else who needed her assistance.

She took in people and animals, building a large network of extended family to whom she gave a home. She devoured books, wrote prolifically, and turned everything she touched into a work of art. She loved entertaining.

Cheri was preceded in death by her parents, William Peters and Margo (Davis) Peters, her brother, Patrick Peters, and a granddaughter, Ember Villines-Filipovits. She leaves behind her best friend and partner, John Dougan, her ex-husband, Aubrey T. Villines, Jr., her daughter, Zawn Villines, son-in-law, Jeffrey Filipovits, son, Aubrey “Trey” Villines, III, foster son, Antonio Chambers, and her granddaughter, Athena Villines-Filipovits, as well as innumerable friends and fans.

A funeral and memorial service are delayed until after the pandemic. There will be a Catholic mass at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in the new year. People who wish to honor Cheri should consider donating to one of the many organizations she supported, such as the DeKalb Access and Resource Center, Friends of Refugees, Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies, The National Museum of the American Indian, or the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network.