Caleb
Pressley of Asheville, N.C., at age 27, is a contemporary humorist, aspiring to
hone his craft to ascend to the level of the old masters like Will Rogers,
Bennett Cerf and Lewis Grizzard. Pressley has built quite a case why
Commissioner of Labor Cherie Berry is the “second best thing about North
Carolina.”
“When
you first see Cherie”…there’s the “perfectly manicured hair, trendy glasses,
contagious smile – it’s safe to say she’s a supermodel,” Pressley stated. “She
has been with us when we needed her most. Riding in an elevator can be a very
stressful and terrifying experience.”
“In
a magnanimous and selfless gesture, Cherie Berry placed a picture of herself in
every single elevator in our entire state just to let us know everything was
going to be OK.” It’s as if she is riding along to provide comfort and assurance.
She also warns people that she’s watching them to make sure they don’t do
anything in an elevator that their mothers would not approve of.
Cherie
Berry, a Republican from Catawba County, was first elected Commissioner of
Labor in 2000, and then re-elected four times. She will retire when her term
expires in 2020.
North
Carolinians began electing a labor commissioner in 1900. Cherie Berry is the
only female to ever hold the office. Cherie’s first name is officially
pronounced as “sha REE,” taken from the French phrase “mon chéri,” meaning
“darling, dearest.”
Her
late husband, Norman H. Berry Jr., died in 2006. Today, her pet cats keep her
company. At home, she will pick up a book, sit on the couch “and my kitties
will come sit on the couch behind my head. That’s how I unwind,” Berry told Lauren
Levine Corriher, a freelance writer from Charlotte.
One
of most compelling tributes to appear during Berry’s “victory tour” around the
state was penned by Raven McCorkle, a senior at Wake Forest University in
Winston-Salem. Writing for the student newspaper, McCorkle said:
“When
you see Cherie Berry’s face in the elevator, and you think about how much you’d
hate to take the stairs, of course, you start to feel indebted to her. I mean,
the woman practically invented the elevator (well, not really, but she invented
putting her picture in all of them; that’s practically the same thing).”
“Commissioner
Berry has a cult following as well, and she is loved all across North Carolina.
There are songs about her, T-shirts and even a spoof twitter account dedicated
to her, @ElevatorQueen. The phrase ‘She Lifts Me Up’ is used to represent the
iconic commissioner.”
The
1971 song by hard rock group Led Zeppelin was wrong, McCorkle said. “There
isn’t a ‘Stairway to Heaven.’ There is an elevator, and Cherie Berry’s face is
right on the wall.”
One
of the duties of the North Carolina Department of Labor (DOL) is to inspect
elevators on an annual basis and issue a “certificate of operation.” An aide
approached Berry in her first term, suggesting there was space on the poster to
include a small photograph along with the commissioner’s signature. He told
her: “People need to know there’s a real person” who is concerned for their
health and safety. “We’ll put a face on government, your face.”
A
black-and-white portrait debuted on the certificate document in 2005. After
Berry’s fourth re-election in 2016, the DOL upgraded the equipment at its
in-house print shop, reported Kate Elizabeth Queram of the Greensboro News
& Record.
“As
a result, the newest elevator photo (its third iteration) shows Berry in full
color, sporting a platinum bob and a red blazer.”
It’s
not just the face. Berry’s signature is not only readable, her dagnabbit penmanship
is beautiful, noted Corriher. She asked Berry: “How long did it take you to
perfect the signature we see in the elevators?”
Berry
replied: “About two seconds. Somebody said, ‘We need your signature here,’ and
I said, ‘OK, here it is!’”
Gary
D. Robertson of the Associated Press asked Berry about her decision not to run
for a sixth term. She cited Rita Coolidge’s song from 1979: “I’d Rather Leave While
I’m In Love.” “Yes, I believe it’s best to leave while I’m in love.”
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