Sheri Dew: Living the unexpected life

Pop psychologists would say Dew is filling a void with her breakneck work schedule, but her brother Brad says, "She's always kept busy. People want to conclude it's because it keeps her from being lonely. If it does, it's a small percentage. Our upbringing is part of it, growing up on a farm and the importance of working."

Family and friends worry nonetheless about her exhausting schedule, especially considering her history of back pain and migraines (she takes medication for them).

"Her schedule is nuts," says Watson. "And most of the time she is ravaged either by migraines or back pains or vision problems. She just works through it. That is tough to watch. She works past exhaustion. At the end of the day she can go to sleep in 30 seconds."

"I'm actually not happy unless I'm insanely busy," says Dew. "I whine that I need a break, but if I have a day off I think, Now what? It's a sickness, I'm sure. But I have to find a way to relieve the pressure."

She accomplishes that with an hour on the stairstepper early each morning, riding a four-wheeler at her getaway in Midway and by playing Game Boy.

"When I come home at night, I eat, turn on Larry King and play Game Boy for 20 minutes and fall asleep," she says. "I would like to mention that I'm really good at it. I'd be happy to take on anyone in Tetris."

When Dew boards a plane flight for another long ride, she takes three things to her seat: scriptures, books and Game Boy. "My niece gave it to me before a long trip," she explains. "It's hilarious. Here I am, an older woman in a dress, playing Game Boy. The stewardesses kneel in the aisle and ask, 'What are you playing?' "

"Her de-stresser is not long walks or getting a massage, it's her Game Boy," says Watson. "She'll phone halfway around the world to give me an update, and I'm thinking, 'What's wrong with this connection.' It's her Game Boy clicking in the background."

'My best friend's wedding'

She came close to getting married once. She was in her mid-30s, and she was dating a man steadily. True to their religion, they decided they would fast and pray separately about whether they should marry. By the end of the weekend her suitor revealed that he didn't want to marry her — instead, he was going to marry her best friend and roommate, whom he had been dating unbeknownst to her.

Dew has never shared this publicly, although friends are more forthcoming. Ask Dew about it and she says, "I thought it would result in marriage. As it turned out it would not have been a good match, but it was the way it happened. That was such a painful part of my life. But I don't want to hurt those people. I still care about them."