Dr. John Miller Sherman

It is with profound sadness and limitless hope that we share the news of the passing of John Miller Sherman, MD, 86, of El Paso, TX, Castle Pines, Colorado, and Malakoff, TX. John passed away peacefully on September 16, 2024 at 10:45am. 

John, affectionately known as “Doc” to his friends, was born on March 29,1938 in Columbus, OH. After graduating as valedictorian with National Merit Honors from Alamogordo High School in May, 1956, he attended Texas Western in El Paso, TX. He graduated as the valedictorian in 3 years (May 1959) with a Bachelor’s of Science, and then Graduated from Baylor College of Medicine with MD in 1963. Shortly after graduation and internship, Doc was drafted into the US Army in 1964 and served 2 years, 7-8 of those months oversees in Saigon, Vietnam. He began his private medical practice upon his return in 1966, and began building his life in El Paso, TX. In 1968, John married the love of his life, Sue Sherman, and they set about building their life and home with their four kids, Laurey, Johnny, Tom, and Liz. 

Doc’s motto in life was very simple: No Regrets. He grew his medical practice to a very large general practice in El Paso and still had time to travel extensively, hunt and fish all over the world, become a private pilot and log almost 10,000 hours in the air, collect everything from stamps to cars, play everything from ping pong to golf, and spend countless hours discussing everything from politics to conspiracy theories. The word NO was not in his vocabulary, and he believed that if something was worth doing it should be done with others. This resulted in a open invitation to ANYONE to travel with him, dine with him, or just experience life with him. Those who took the invite often experienced things they never would have without it!

But of all the things he did and all the accomplishments he achieved, he was most proud of how God used him through Christian Hands in Action, the missions organization he founded in 1980. Through CHIA, God combined Doc’s motto of “no regrets” with his love of travel, adventure, flying, people, medicine and serving. This resulted in hundreds of mission trips, 1000’s of evangelistic outreaches, and countless people being exposed to Jesus. This exposure to Christ also rang true for Doc who accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior when he was 45 years old and often said that his life truly began at that time. 

Doc continued to live his larger than life “life” until the end. Up until his last few weeks, he was fishing, trying to put together the next Canada fishing trip, strategizing on how to get one more trip on the books, and holding court as chairman of the board of CHIA. A few weeks prior to passing he said, “maybe it is time I step down”. That sums up Doc.

John is survived by Sue, his wife of 56 years, his daughter Laurey, in Florida, His Son John and daughter-in-law Alex in Texas, His son Tom and daughter-in-law Jen in Texas, and his daughter Liz and son-in-law Tom, in Colorado, and his grandkids, Meghan, Thomas, Charlie, Caleb, Carly, Cade, and Camden!

Please join us September 30th, 2024, at 10 am at Coronado Baptist Church in El Paso, TX, as we celebrate a life well lived. In Lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Christian Hands in Action at www.chiamissions.org/donate-today