Robert Douglas Sherman

Robert Douglas Sherman was born in 1951 in Highland Park, MI to Dr. Max Kelvin Sherman, a chiropractor, and Vivian Vandora Teague, a model and seamstress. He had two brothers Bruce and Brian and two adopted twin sisters Lynn and Lori.

In his early years, he was a patrolman on the National Ski Patrol, the youngest certified scuba instructor in the state of Michigan, and started his own underwater salvage company at 15. He bailed hay on EW Craddocks farm and joined the Oxford Sky Diving Club at 17.

He attended Michigan Tech University studying chemical engineering, joined the ski team, Phi Kappa Theta fraternity, and graduated in 1973.

While in undergraduate school in northern Michigan, he met a cute local girl, Carole Esther Miller, and married her on Jan 6, 1973.

He graduated Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, in 1976 with a Doctorate in Chiropractic. He drove a 450cc Honda motorcycle and taught Carole how to ride a motorcycle.

Shortly after graduating from chiropractic school, he and Carole moved back to Michigan and started their family of three daughters, Julie, Courtney, and Rebecca.

His chiropractic practice took off and he soon owned and practiced at multiple clinics in Marine City and St. Clair Shores.

He found time to acquire a large collection of ventriloquist dummies, and even hosted a radio show focused on chiropractic care. He bought a Victorian mansion and restored it from a set of individual apartments back to a renovated single family home. His creativity was abundant in building the girls marionette puppets as kids, writing plays for our church's Christmas program, and buying us any musical instrument he found a good deal on.

Bob accepted the Lord as his savior in 1987 shortly before a life altering accident in an ATV three-wheeler. In the accident, his foot hit some heavy sand, came off the pedal and got caught in the rear wheel. It folded his leg sideways and broke his knee into hundreds of pieces.

The accident left him with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), a rare nerve disease that took away his ability to walk without a cane or wheelchair, and caused excruciating chronic pain for the next 38 years until his final days. His pain would remain unrelenting over the years with the exception of a few good years where he lived life to the fullest again, taking up cycling, riding a Honda Goldwing, building a custom closet for my mom, and renovating rental homes.

After the accident, he lost his ability to practice chiropractic care and after long consideration, decided to move the family from Michigan to Charleston, SC. He opened a Christian bookstore called Good News, where he worked in the back office doing the books and Carole ran the operations with a loyal team of employees.

His faith in God strengthened over the years and he credited the accident with redirecting his life to be able to spend more time with family. During the past 40 years, he tried a variety of treatments for his pain, going to the Mayo clinic, getting a computerized box put into his hip, trying hyperbaric oxygen chambers, ultimately with limited effect on his pain. He also suffered from debilitating heart issues requiring multiple surgeries and colon cancer, while daily battling the pain from RSD. His perseverance in living a joyful life while dealing with horrendous pain has served as an inspiration to his family and community. He never lost his faith in God and we all prayed for his full healing even until his final days. In the end, his pain became unbearable and he transitioned into hospice care in the last six months of his life. The hospice nurses were a blessing to him and Carole in these dark final months. Dr. Bob Sherman will always be remembered as a loving and devoted husband, father, and grandfather by those who knew him best. His sense of humor and storytelling abilities made him a joy to be around. His faith in Christ was his greatest priority and it brings us all peace knowing he is spending eternity with his Savior.