...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 6 AM
EST SATURDAY...
* WHAT...North winds 15 to 25 kt and choppy waters expected.
* WHERE...Albemarle, Croatan, and Roanoke Sounds and the
Alligator River.
* WHEN...From noon today to 6 AM EST Saturday.
* IMPACTS...Conditions will be hazardous to small craft.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Inexperienced mariners, especially those operating smaller
vessels, should avoid navigating in hazardous conditions.
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School board members (from left) Rickey Freeman, Reba Cooper Carlton, School Superintendent Dr. Otis Smallwood, Vice Chair Norman Cherry, Board Chair Tarsha Dudley and Christine Dudley.
School board members (from left) Rickey Freeman, Reba Cooper Carlton, School Superintendent Dr. Otis Smallwood, Vice Chair Norman Cherry, Board Chair Tarsha Dudley and Christine Dudley.
It was a monumental moment last week at the regular Bertie County School Board meeting as Bertie County Schools Superintendent Dr. Otis Smallwood presented Board Member Vice Chairman Norman Cherry with a special award of appreciation for his service on the board and in the district.
Cherry, also a retired Bertie County Commissioner, did not run for re-election.
What made the presentation even more special was the fact Cherry, an educational force in the community for over 50 years was, at one point, Smallwood’s teacher.
Cherry began his full-time teaching career in 1964 after serving as a substitute teacher for six months.
Cherry was influenced by two aunts and an uncle who were teachers, but it was the fact the bus didn’t stop one day that put Cherry on the road to education.
“One day the school bus drove by my house and didn’t stop. I never wanted to feel the way I did then, so I decided to become a teacher,”said Cherry.
The educator spent ten years in Martin County, originally the only African American instructor at Bear Grass School.
“School segregation had just begun in North Carolina,” Cherry said. “I had been teaching eighth grade and when the schools were integrated I was sent to Martin County. I had planned on being there for one year.
“I left, crying, ten years later. The only reason I came back to Bertie is because I wanted to see my boys play sports. In Martin, I was a teacher and a coach and by the time I got home, my boys had already played. It was time to come back to Bertie,” said the educator.
“Mr. Norman Cherry was one of a few male teachers that I had in elementary school that had a direct impact on the trajectory of my life and career. During those early years was when I decided that I wanted to become a teacher because of the opportunities he provided for me,” Dr. Smallwood said.
Not only was Cherry Smallwood’s teacher, he had the opportunity to vote for the Superintendent candidate as a Bertie County school board member.
“Fast forward to adulthood and to the superintendency, Mr. Cherry (and the rest of the school board) afforded me the opportunity to return home to become the superintendent of my beloved school district, and for that I am eternally grateful.” said Smallwood. “I was more than honored to present him with such a small token of appreciation for the huge impact he’s had on my career.”
Today, Cherry is looking forward to spending time with his “great grands,” as the younger Cherry’s don’t fall far from the tree.
“My kids are grown, the grands are getting older and now is the time for the great grands,” Cherry explained.
“For years I have served on boards and have influenced from within. It’s now time to be able to sit back and relax and maybe influence from the outside,” said Cherry, with a gleam in his eye and a mile wide smile.
