Sherry Harris Phelps

The daughter of Roy Lee and Charlotte Stidom Harris, she was born in Cliffside and lived there from 1962 to 1979. In June 2009 she returned to live on Fairview Road.
She has one sister, Peggy, and two brothers, Bruce and James. Her grandparents (father’s parents) were the late Elijah (E.C.) and Hannah Hollifield Harris.

Sherry went to Cliffside Elementary through the eighth grade, went to Chase High and graduated in 1979. She got an Associates Degree in accounting at Cleveland County College in 1981.
Her teachers at Cliffside were, in order, Biggerstaff, Wells, Wilson, Wilson, Tinkler, Packard, Panell and Greene.

Her favorite teacher was Ms. Wilson in the fourth grade. “I loved doing skits and dances. She always made learning fun.” Her good friends were Vicki Driskill and Sandra Weathers.

Special and funny incidents

“On my first day of school, my parents didn’t know that day was only half-day for the first graders. When my teacher asked who my parents were so she could call them, I quickly said ‘Mom and Daddy.’ She had to figure out the rest. Life was good!

“Mr. [Phillip] White had a celebration at school for the 50th Anniversary and Sandra Weathers and I got to ride our horses to school for the day. Leading up to the celebration he wanted us to bring things from the 1920’s for display. My suggestion of displaying Mrs. Tinkler wasn’t well received. (Young and dumb!)

“Mrs. Tinkler overcame my suggestion and I enjoyed helping her create some beautiful bulletin boards.

The Life

“The 1960 and early 1970’s were fab in Cliffside. As a child I remember Mom buying our towels by the pound and letting us put peanuts in our sodas.

“Sunday lunch at the cafe and field trips from school to the Haynes Bank and post office were always fun. I loved walking home from school and stopping by the library to get a new book to read before walking on to Fairview Road, I won a game with myself if I beat the school bus to Fairview Road.

“And thanks to all the people for throwing out the pop-bottles back then. I had many a soda and candy bar at Jenk’s grocery, thanks to those bottles.”

I miss…

“From school to church to home, everybody knew everybody and took care of each other. And who didn’t love the park and the baseball games? Things were much more relaxed and people slowed down to enjoy each other. One reason I’ve moved back to Cliffside, I’ve decided my life is going to return to a slower pace and I want to get to know my family and neighbors again. I want my husband to see how good my childhood was and how we can enjoy community living as my grandparents did.”

Later Life

“I worked in the automotive business in Shelby for about eight years. I moved to Grover for a few years then moved back to Shelby, where for 13 years I worked for Cleveland County in the Finance Dept. I was on the Board of Directors for the Broad River Greenway for many years.

“Now I work from home for a software company out of Charlotte and travel the State to assist our clients.

“Like Daddy, I love photography.

“I am married to Kenneth Wayne Phelps from Lincoln Co. He is a police officer for Gardner-Webb University and a part-time deputy for Cleveland County. We’ve remodeled Daddy’s studio into a house and reside there.

“My siblings and I now own a good portion of our grandparent’s original farmland on Fairview Road. We try hard to maintain our heritage by respecting the land and the fruits it brings to us.”