On July 21, 2025, Franklin “Frank” Sherer — also known as Frank, Cowboy and Andy — left this world at the age of 92. He had always told people “Better enjoy me while you can because I’m just passing through.” When he left, he was asleep at home with two of his loving children at his bedside. Frank was born on December 27, 1932 in McCollum, Ala. His father was a coal miner and his mother was a rugged country woman accustomed to the life of subsistence farming. They had six children, none of whom wished to stay on the farm. As soon as they were old enough, the four boys enlisted in the military service and the two girls married servicemen. Frank chose the Air Force because he had a lifelong fascination with aeronautics and aerospace. He could identify aircraft when they were little more than a dot in the sky. At the beginning of the Korean War, he enlisted for a 4-year assignment. He was stationed at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Tex.; Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Ga.; Ada Berry Air Force Base in Columbus, In.; and Lawson Field at Fort Benning Air Force Base, Columbus, Ga. Due to the war ending in 1953, he received an early release and immediately signed on with Hayes Aircraft Corporation, an aircraft design, maintenance and customization company operating next to the Birmingham International Airport. The job was ideal for him — it allowed him to use the skills he developed in the Air Force, to be around his beloved aircraft and to enjoy his family life. He stayed with the company for 41 years. He was a loving husband and father, married for 30 years with four children whom he and his wife, Nora Lane, raised to be highly individualistic. No two of their children are close to being alike. Most of their family vacations involved hiking, fishing and camping because Frank was an avid outdoorsman who wanted his family to develop his love of the natural world. He also was a Boy Scout leader and an entertaining story-teller. Many folks in Walker County will remember him as a witty and frequently hilarious raconteur. Even in old age, his head was filled with a bright-eyed wonderment for life and he knew how to instill that wonder in others. Upon retirement, he took up the grandfatherly role of babysitter/chauffeur and began to develop a sedentary lifestyle. All of that changed when, one afternoon while watching tv, he got the idea that his recliner chair was trying to kill him. He immediately went out to his workshop and began creating things. It bothered Sherer that the Walker County Courthouse had burned to the ground four times in its history and that there was very little record of the buildings’ physical appearances so he began to research archives and recreate them in miniature with an exactitude toward the details. He also constructed unusual furniture of his own design. His historic miniature buildings can be found in the Jasper Public Library, the Winston County Archives in Double Springs, the Bankhead House and Heritage Center Museum in Jasper, Kings Mountain Historical Museum in Kings Mountain, NC. and the private collection of local historian Pat Morrison. Despite starting an art career in his mid-80’s, Frank Sherer managed to create a surprising amount of objects of cultural and historical importance for Walker and Winston counties. Frank Sherer was preceded in death by his father, Cecil W., and mother Martha Staggs Sherer; sister, Gloria Carroll and her husband Dalton Carroll; sister, Shirley Sherer Hudson; his brothers, Bryan Sherer and John Howard Sherer; sister-in-law, Sue Manasco Sherer; son-in-law, Gary Mays; and his best friend, Frank Smith, also known as "Shine." He is survived by his best friend/partner, Laura Randolph; brother, C.W. Sherer; sister-in-law, Doylene Elliott Sherer,; brother-in-law, Larry Hudson; and his children, Robert F. Sherer, C. Denise Mays, John W. Sherer and Jeffrey D. Sherer. He is also survived by his five grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and 4four great-great-grandchildren. The family of Frank Sherer would like to express their deepest gratitude to ProHealth Hospice for the love and care they showed him in the last few months. A Celebration of Life gathering will be held at Wilson’s Funeral Home in Carbon Hill Saturday, August 2, from 2 to 4 p.m. Wilson Funeral Home & Crematory LLC, Carbon Hill; 205-924-4147