The feature this week is regularly scheduled author, Cherri Sherman, who is celebrating a milestone birthday tomorrow, August 22!
It was New Year’s Eve, 1967 when 22-year-old Cherri Murphy took a Greyhound bus from upstate New York to Vermont. She didn’t have a place to stay, or a single friend in town, but she did have a brand new pair of skis, purchased with her very first paycheck. She rented a car and popped over to Warren, hitting up the Blue Tooth on the Sugarbush Access Road, gaining laughs as she naively inquired about a place to stay. During the winter. On a holiday weekend. At a ski resort. She made her way to Main Street, to The Pitcher Inn, where she secured a room for $5. She returned there every weekend until she found a permanent place to stay in The Valley.
RED HOUSE
With a knock on the door of the red house at the bottom of Route 100, she was introduced to Virginia Steele, or Ginny, as she would come to be known to Cherri over the course of their three-year friendship. Cherri lived in the small apartment on the side of the red house, and developed a close relationship with Ginny, a fashion editor and one of Cherri’s first friends in The Valley. When Ginny was later diagnosed with cancer, Cherri spent time looking after her and keeping her company. Ginny passed in August of 1971 at the young age of 42, and left the red house to an unbeknownst Cherri, then only 26.
Son-in-law Alex Chefetz, Cherri, son-in-law Joe Liotta, daughters Liza, Timna, Jill, Kate, son-in-law Bob Murphy, grandkids Miller, Beckett, Addie and Willa. (Missing from picture is granddaughter Campbell.)
It might seem unfathomable to some of her ski buddies now, like John or Barbara Egan, but Cherri spent a lot of time on the bunny hill during that first winter at Sugarbush. Eventually getting more comfortable, she made her way to the Valley House. It was there, on line as a single, that she met her future husband, Bill Sherman, a Stamford, Connecticut, resident. The relationship was long distance with Bill spending weekends at the red house, until the two wed in the living room of Cherri’s Warren home in July 1972. After a reception at Tucker Hill, the two settled in Stamford.
Cherri and Bill welcomed their first daughter, Timna, in the winter of 1973. They would go on to have four more girls, Liza (1975), Amy (1977), Jill (1979), and Kate (1980). The family of seven packed up their Suburban every Friday to spend winter weekends in Warren. The girls developed meaningful connections to the mountain and the state, one of them attending UVM, two of them getting married in The Valley, and one now living in Montpelier. When Bill died in 2002, Cherri made her way back home, to the red house, full time.
HER CUSTOMERS
Today, Cherri is an integral part of not only the Warren community, but the greater Valley area as well. She spent years volunteering at Warren Elementary School, helping students learn to read, and on Thursdays she can be found on her route delivering Meals On Wheels. She knows all of her “customers” and their dietary preferences, and only occasionally delivers the wrong meal to the wrong person. What she lacks in execution she makes up for in charm – they never get mad. On occasional Friday nights, she can be found at the Jewish Community of Greater Stowe for Shabbat services, and she’s already started collecting items for next summer’s annual tag sale.
With this birthday, Cherri has finally earned the highly coveted, premium, reserved 80-plus parking spot at Sugarbush. She has outskied a lot of her contemporaries, but don’t use the word “still” when discussing her skiing, especially the bumps. She has made lots of new ski friends and might start the day skiing alone, then stumble upon a group of fun people and (not so jokingly) ask “where are we headed next?”
Longtime friend Tom Hamm, granddaughter Campbell, Cherri, daughter Jill, grandson Miller, daughter Timna, son-in-law Joe Liotta, grandson Beckett, daughters Liza and Kate, son-in-law Bob Murphy.
MAD RIVER GLEN
Recently, she has expanded her skiing to Mad River Glen, with a push from one of her sons-in-law. Be it a sunrise Cat ride at Sugarbush, a powder day at Mad River, or an international adventure to the Dolomites, she prides herself on skiing her age (at least!) in days each season, and has self-proclaimed several volunteer ambassador positions at Sugarbush; she knows the parking lot attendees, chats up the ski instructors, is friends with the official mountain ambassadors, and gives chocolates to the liftees as she waits for the chair. This past winter, she had the idea for various community members to host dinners to make the lift attendants feel appreciated and at home in America. It was a smashing success! Hopefully the start of a new tradition.
Over the last few years, Cherri has embraced political activism more and more, seeking opportunities to be involved in protests and to make a statement. Last winter, she made sure a certain vice president knew that his presence in The Valley and on the mountain was not welcome. She donned a makeshift Ukrainian flag on her arm (made out of hand-knit ski headbands, of course) and held up a homemade poster telling him to “Go Ski in Russia.”
Cherri never shies away from controversy, or a contest – whether it is for best costume or an essay for the SugarBlog. She has won a season’s pass, (and bragging rights!) for some of her submissions and outfits, including her original dirndl from her job waitressing at the Wünderbar in the late 60s. She is loyal to her people, buying new gear from Brook Weston at Mountainside, or adding to her collection of sculptures by Troy Kingsbury, a Waitsfield native. She cherishes her neighbors, and is always good for an airport pick up or a random pie drop off. She has opened her home, and that small apartment on the side, to anyone who needs a place to stay.
YELLING TIPS
It is not unusual to find, or more accurately hear, Cherri yelling tips (sometimes from the chair) to people learning how to ski. “Up Down Up Down! Put your weight on your downhill ski! Hands out front!” When not on the mountain, she can be seen busting her signature dance moves along to The Grift, one of her favorite local bands. During the off-season, she can be spotted picking apples or rhubarb (usually with permission!), taking a dip in the Mad River (sometimes fully clothed), marching in the Fourth of July parade, or hiking one of her favorite trails. She rallies her group of strong Vermont women for fun outings, most recently a Mumford and Sons concert, in Essex at the old fairgrounds. She loves a shenanigan and the authors of this piece find it slightly disappointing that she didn’t sweet talk her way on to the train for the next stop on their Railroad Revival Tour.
Cherri has seen a lot over her last 58 years in The Valley. She was there for the inaugural bucket pour in Blueberry Lake, has seen double chairs turned into high-speed quads, has witnessed different people and companies buy and sell the mountain (ask her about the time she crashed Win Smith’s private retirement dinner). She always has her community in mind; she organizes meal trains, gives people rides to appointments, champions for The Valley’s medical care, and devotes a lot of time to making sure people receive proper recognition for their contributions to The Valley – a plaque for Lenord Robinson, a clock at the mountain for her late husband, a millstone for Ginny.
Cherri, Bill, with daughters Liza, Amy, Jill, Kate and Timna
SHINE A LIGHT
In the last year, she has become a writer for the local paper, generating the idea for and executing a weekly column to bring attention to and celebrate local Vermonters who are doing good, living their best lives, and giving back to the Green Mountain State. She has so much fun writing these pieces and it brings her joy to shine a light and give a voice to all the colorful characters that weave the beautiful and unique tapestry of this little pocket of Vermont.
We might be biased, but we can’t think of a woman who better embodies the spirit of being their authentic self and living their life with compassion, purpose, and intention. We are blessed to know her and to be loved by her, and we hope this piece has given you a glimpse into the special human who we call Mom.
