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70 Portrait: SMALL BUSINESS — BIG IMPACT * March 17, 2011

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The business that glitters

Sherrie’s Jewelry Box is one of the bright spots on Main Street inTigard

BY BARBARA SHERMAN

ustomers who walk into Sherrie’s Jewelry Box on historic Main Street in downtown Tigard most often will be greeted by a family member — Sherrie Devaney herself or her son Jon Voigt, her sister-in-law Katie, her daughter Gina or sometimes even her husband David. The store carries a wide selection of both loose stones and fine jewelry, and about one-third of the inventory is created by Sherrie herself. Also, she has taught her new daughter-in-law, Jon’s wife Brianna, to make stunning necklaces that include painted and glass beads plus semi-precious stones.

Sherrie has been a fixture on Main Street for nearly two decades, although her first store didn’t carry the “Jewelry Box” name.

She started creating her own jewelry at a very young age.

“In junior high school in Keizer, I took a metal arts class and fell in love with making jewelry,” Sherrie said. “I played with my mom’s jewelry, and she started selling Avon. I started selling it too as a

young teenager — I just wanted to get the jewelry.

“I spent all my money on it and then took it apart and put it back together. That

was my start in the jewelry ‘business.’” She married her high school sweet-heart, and they moved to Hermiston, where Sherrie worked for a few years for I.J. Gems jewelry store.

“I became friends with the daughter Jacquie, who took over the business from her mother, and one of her brothers taught me how to size rings,” Sherrie said. “Jacquie also taught me to do stringing, beading and repairs. I would string beads, and she would say, ‘Perfect.’Then I would turn my back, and she would pull it apart. I learned to get very fast at it.”

Sherrie decided she wanted to go to the American Jewelers Institute, but the only two schools were in Texas and in Portland. By this time, Sherrie had two young boys, so she chose the Portland school that was closer to her family and moved to the metro area, where she got a job as a man-ager at a Portland Contact Lens Clinic. “I saved my money so I could go to school, but the company closed the loca-tion where I was working,” Sherrie said. “However, they gave me a small severance package, and I still qualified for a student loan for the one-year program and started

ALL INTHE FAMILY — Jon Voight and his mom, Sherrie Schilling, owner of Sherrie’s Jewelry Box, have been fulfilling customers needs for years.

JAIME VALDEZ/Times Newspapers

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