The community of the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia greatly mourns the passing of Terry Yoshida Sherwin. She was admired and beloved for her gentle manner and caring ways as an inspiring educator and leader. Having started the practice of tea (chado) over 30 years ago, in 2018 she was honored with the tea name (chamei) Soya (宗弥) from the Urasenke Tea School in Kyoto. The name paid homage to her father, Yasohichi Yoshida, who had immigrated from Japan to the US as a small child in 1903.

While growing up as one of six children of her Japanese immigrant father and Irish American mother, Marie (Conrad), Terry developed her life-long enthusiasm for art and teaching. Upon graduating from Moore College of Art in 1973, she started teaching art in the Lower School at The Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr. She loved teaching there for 13 years until the new love of her life, her son Chris, was born in 1987.

From about 1993, Terry began to explore her Japanese roots and study aspects of Japanese culture, specifically the language, the art of kimono dressing and the practice of tea. Terry soon became a regular presence, dressed impeccably in kimono, at tea demonstrations held at Shofuso, the La Salle Tea House, as well as at events throughout the Philadelphia area. She conducted training workshops for the staff at Shofuso. Over the ensuing decades, Terry was an important force, in her diplomatic and personable manner, behind the development the Chado Urasenke Tankokai tea organization and became a pillar of the Japanese tea community in Philadelphia.

For the past couple of decades, Terry also served a key role with Japan American Society of Greater Philadelphia in the planning and implementation of the annual Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival. Even the diagnosis of a terminal condition in 2020 did little to suppress her drive to educate and be of service to the community. Terry was a passionate supporter of public education, and that she strongly advocated for bringing back Japanese language classes to the high schools in the Lower Merion School District. She attended parents’ meetings and school board meetings as long as her health allowed, reflecting her deep commitment to education. She benefited from an experimental treatment such that, despite her illness, she led groups for tea demonstrations and participated in media interviews through 2024 with hardly any visible sign of her condition. During the recent cherry blossom season in 2025 while Terry could not participate in the festival due to her illness, her deep concern and continued support were unfailing.

Terry will be missed by so many in our community. We extend our deepest condolences to her surviving family, especially her son Chris, daughter-in-law Elyse, grandchildren Emmie and Charlie, brother and sisters, and her many nieces and nephews who adored her.

The Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, July 19, 10:00 am, following Visitation from 8:30 am ~ 9:45 am, at St Christopher’s Episcopal Church, 226 Righter Mill Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035. Terry’s son, Chris, requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made to Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia.

Her obituary can be viewed here: https://www.legacy.com/funeral-homes/obituaries/name/theresa-sherwin-obituary?pid=209345584&v=batesville

Videos of Terry at the Philadelphia Museum of Art describing a tea ceremony demonstration.