Dr. Mayhall retired in 1997 after a 30 year career as a professional counselor, specializing in support for families raising children with disabilities and health impairments, and families grieving the death of a child.  After graduation from Pacific University in Oregon, she worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras to improve the lives of toddlers and their impoverished families in a mountain village. Cheron was a medical social worker for teaching hospitals in Texas and New Mexico, and then worked with school children on the Navajo reservation before settling in Oregon to raise her family.  In 1982, she graduated from Oregon State University with a Ph.D. in Counseling and Adult Education.  During this course of study her four-year-old son was killed in a highway accident, after which she completed her doctoral research and dissertation exploring the characteristics that contribute to parental healing after the death of a child.  She was founder and president of the Salem, Oregon chapter of The Compassionate Friends, an international organization  supporting bereaved parents and families. In 1983-84 she founded the Coalition in Oregon for Parent Education (COPE) where she served for 13 years as Executive Director.  The mission of this statewide organization is to provide hope, education and advocacy to families grieving and despairing over the challenges presented by their special needs children. Cheron has served on the governing bodies of numerous state, regional and national organizations and agencies, including the National Parent Network on Disability.  She was President of the American Society for Deaf Children from 1999 to 2002, and was awarded ASDC's most prestigious honor, the Lee Katz Award, in 2005. Besides writing, reading, quilting and volunteer work, her interests include travel and bicycling.  In retirement she has been President of her local Habitat for Humanity affiliate, and she continues working in support of church missions at home and abroad.  In her new hometown of Tucson, Arizona she volunteers for the Tu Nidito agency which supports children and their families impacted by serious illness and death. In 2006, Dr. Mayhall published her memoir/novel, "The Bridge Is Love: A Journey Through Grief to Joy After the Death of a Child.  During the writing of this book she was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer, which led to authoring a second memoir, "Marshaling Support to Survive Breast Cancer: Self-talk, Girl-talk, Doctor-talk" , which was published in 2009.  Cheron, her husband, and their pets are transitioning from three decades of residence in the Pacific Northwest, now making their home in Tucson.  They have three adult children and one grandson.