What can possibly top ‘Texas Pete’ as N.C.’s best asset?

Not too long ago, we learned that blogger Caleb Pressley of Asheville, N.C., thinks “the fourth best thing about North Carolina” is “Texas Pete Original Hot Sauce,” a product that dates back to 1929, created by Thad Garner and family in Winston-Salem.

In Pressley’s mind, Texas Pete even eclipses the “North Carolina mountains,” which he ranked fifth as a state asset. Readers asked two questions. Who is this guy Pressley? What could possibly rank ahead of Texas Pete?

Caleb Pressley is “a character.” My mother would use that term politely to describe someone who is “slightly tetched in the head.” Pressley would be honored, not offended. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2015, majoring in communications.

He was a member of the Tar Heels varsity football team from 2011-13, serving as a backup quarterback. He became a student manager for the team in 2014 and appointed himself as the “supervisor of morale,” working on the sidelines to augment the coaching staff.

Pressley, who now writes for Barstool Sports, a pop culture blog based in New York City, ranks the “third best thing about North Carolina” as the Carolina panthers – the statues outside Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, not the professional football team that plays inside the stadium.

Indeed, they are impressive monuments. Sculptor Todd Andrews of Grass Valley, Calif., said he was commissioned to create six 22-foot bronze panthers to represent the “indomitable spirit” of the Carolina Panthers. “As you gaze into the eyes of each panther, you will momentarily be lost in the hypnotic trance.” Each sculpture “exudes a feeling of power and passion,” Andrews commented.

Pressley’s choice for the “second best thing about North Carolina” is someone he describes as a “juggernaut” of a celebrity – Cherie Berry, North Carolina’s Commissioner of Labor, who is fondly known as the “Elevator Lady.”

Cherie Berry’s smiling face appears on the “certificate of operation,” a required poster in every elevator in the entire state attesting that it has passed an annual inspection. On a daily basis, thousands and thousands of elevator cars go up and down, up and down…over and over again. Her mug shot is seen daily by zillions of elevator passengers.

“Her first and last name rhyme like she’s straight from Dr. Seuss,” Pressley added. That’s not quite the case, as the correct pronunciation of Cherie is “sha-REE.”

Cherie Killian was born in Newton, a town in Catawba County, N.C., on Dec. 21, 1946, the daughter of Earl Clifford and Lena Carrigan Killian.

As background: Fighting with U.S. troops during World War II, Earl Killian was an aircraft tail gunner who was shot down twice. He was captured the second time and spent 13 months in a German prisoner of war camp before being liberated by British soldiers.

Coming home through France, he heard “mon chéri,” meaning “darling, dearest” in English. Earl loved the sound of it, so he promised himself: “If I ever get home alive and have a daughter, I’ll name her Cherie.”

Cherie Killian graduated from Maiden (N.C.) High School in 1965. She attended Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory. Her first real job was working for Guy Hunt at Hunt’s Department Store in Boone. (The building now houses Mast General Store.) She also learned how to make pottery and sold her wares to travelers along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Life got interesting when Cherie married her third husband, Norman H. Berry Jr. and became Cherie Berry. In 1985, the Berrys started a company to manufacture spark-plug wires for the automobile industry. The venture became very profitable.

Berry, a Republican, was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1992, representing Catawba County. She served eight years in the General Assembly and was first elected as the Commissioner of Labor in 2000. She has decided to vacate her position and retire in 2020 at the end of her fifth four-year term.

She once told reporters that “almost everybody” mispronounces her name: “They say Sherry or Cherry to make it rhyme with Berry, and that’s OK. I don’t mind. You can call me anything but late for dinner.”

Caleb Pressley calls Cherie Berry a “supermodel” in her 70s. The superlatives are about a mile long and growing. Dagnabbit, she’s even had a song written about her, and at least two craft beers are named in her honor.