Cheryl Diane Wortman b 10/4/48
m Charles McElvain b 9/23/48 m 5/4/1968
m Joseph Dominianni b 11/8/50 m 8/2/1983
Children
Shane Christopher McElvain b 4/16/70
Joseph John Dominianni b 5/15/84
Cheryl was born on October 4, 1948, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Older sister Laurel Lee had been born in January, 1947, in Culver City, California, where father Warner was studying acting. But by the time Cheryl was on the way, he had given up his dream of becoming an actor and the family had moved to Oklahoma City, where he had been raised. The stay in Oklahoma was short-lived, however, because Warner learned that California needed teachers and that he could qualify for an emergency credential. The family returned to California, Warner earned his credential in Fresno, and the family settled in Whittier in southern California when Warner got a job with the Little Lake School District. Mother Helen got a job as a private secretary at East Whittier City School District where she remained for the next 18 years.
As a young child, Cheryl loved horses and told everyone that she wanted to live on a horse ranch when she grew up. Her favorite actress was Doris Day and that was who she was when she and Laurel Lee played make-believe. She also loved swimming and was very happy when the family moved into a house with a swimming pool when she was 11.
Although Cheryl always got good grades in school, she lacked direction in terms of a career. After attending UCLA for just a year, she withdrew to go to work full-time, following in her mother’s footsteps as a secretary. She married Charles McElvain in 1968 and a son, Shane Christopher, was born in 1970. Chuck proved to be an unsuitable husband and father, and Cheryl divorced him in 1971. Realizing she needed a college education now more than ever, Cheryl enrolled at California State University, Fullerton, and received a bachelor’s degree in English, along with a partial secondary teaching credential, in 1975.
After teaching two years in southern California , Cheryl accepted her mother’s offer to move into a rental home they owned in Las Vegas. Cheryl started working as a secretary at Scenic Airlines and within weeks had met a young aircraft mechanic named Joe Dominianni who eventually became her husband. The following year, Joe was offered a job at TWA in Los Angeles, so the couple moved to Playa del Rey, a small beach community right next to the airport. Although Joe was laid off from TWA not long after he started, he was able to join American Airlines the following year. Shane lived with Warner and Helen for two years during this time.
While living in Playa del Rey, Cheryl started working for a large builder/developer in Culver City and worked there for the next five years. Cheryl and Joe were married in 1983 and Joey, their only child, was born the following year. Frustrated by the high cost of housing in LA, Cheryl and family moved to Las Vegas in late 1984, where they immediately bought a house. Unfortunately, Cheryl never adjusted to living in Las Vegas, and Joe was unwilling to move back to California. They separated in 1989, but reunited in New York in 1991, where Joe had moved to be close to his family on Long Island.
Once settled in New York, Cheryl started working for CMP Media, a large publisher of technology-related magazines. She eventually wrote some hardware and software reviews for Windows Magazine, and was promoted to associate editor. Declining ad sales closed Windows Magazine in 1999, but Cheryl was able to rejoin the company as a copy editor for VARBusiness Magazine in 2000 and at that time she started working toward a paralegal certificate at the local community college at night.
Taking advantage of the low interest rates prevalent in 1998, Joe and Cheryl bought a house in Massapequa, the town where Joe was raised. This turned out to be a wise decision as housing prices skyrocketed there for the next several years. In December, 2002, Cheryl was laid off at CMP but returned to work the following June as a legal assistant in a nearby law firm. Joe remained employed at American Airlines.
Cheryl and Joe had agreed that they would retire to San Diego, California. In October, 2015, Cheryl retired from the law firm where she had worked for twelve years. They had already bought a home in Escondido, a city 35 miles northeast of San Diego. Cheryl moved to Escondido on October 30, 2015. Joe had decided to continue working so he had to wait for a transfer to San Diego International Airport, which finally came through in April, 2016. Joe continued to work as a mechanic for American Airlines for four more years but was basically forced to retire after a serious bout with Covid, although he eventually made a full recovery.
Both Cheryl and Joe enjoy traveling, reading, gardening, and animals – there are always at least two or three cats in the family. The pandemic ruled out travel for two years, but in the summer of 2022 they took their first Viking river cruise through Germany, Austria and Hungary and they look forward to many more travel adventures.
1965
2002
1992
1980
Laurel and Cheryl - 1953