Photo by DanHenryPhotography.com / Bill Cherry is shown in this photo for McCallie's 2018-19 school year.Everyone needs a helper now and then. Even Ms. Tina Terry, the chief generator of smiles and hugs inside the McCallie School dining hall for the past 21 years.
So more times than not when she worked the morning shift, the waffle irons already would be on and the butter pulled from the refrigerator to soften.
"I always knew when Bill Cherry was here, because you'd smell burnt toast," she said with a laugh Wednesday afternoon. "I miss him so much."
A significant number of McCallie family and friends will gather in the private boys' school's chapel Sunday at 3 p.m. to reflect on just how much Cherry, who passed away on Feb. 20, will be missed.
Given that he spent the last 50 of his 78 years on Earth at the school on Missionary Ridge, where he held down jobs as an athletic director, football coach and math teacher, the missing will take some time to fade, if it ever does.
As former McCallie football star and current practicing attorney Ward Nelson wrote in an email last week: "He was quick to smile or crack a joke, but just as quick to teach you a lesson when you messed up or slacked up in any way. So, of course, we all became very close to him."
Ronnie Carter, the former head of the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, will speak, his time at the microphone almost certain to include at least a story or two concerning the TSSAA's public-private split.
"Bill transcended public-private," Carter told this newspaper a few years ago, when the school renamed an amphitheater room in Cherry's honor inside the Student Activity Center, which Cherry oversaw the building of. "He was instrumental in working with schools on both sides. He was a top (athletic department) figure statewide. He was a leader, always understanding what both sides needed to make this work."
Spencer McCallie III, who became the school's headmaster in 1974 and retired 25 years later, also is expected to speak, as is Terry Evans, perhaps Cherry's closest friend at McCallie. Terry's son Rock, who starred in football and basketball at the school before going on to play football at Carson-Newman and now coaches at McCallie, will say a few words.
Cherry's daughters Rachel and McLean also will share at least a few memories of their father and his 56-year marriage to their mom, Mary, who started dating William Lee Cherry when she was 13 and he was 14 back in Franklin, Tennessee.
There should be some discussion about the 50 state titles the Blue Tornado won across all sports during Cherry's 35 years as athletic director, as well as the 3,825 total victories McCallie sports teams won over that time.
And all of those folks can tell stories about Cherry from a perspective known by few others.
But so can Tina Terry.
"He was the most loving, kind person I have ever met in my life," she said. "He was so down to earth."
He also occasionally was in need of Terry's calming influence, such as when he couldn't get his car parked straight in its spot one night before dinner.
"He got so mad," she recalled. "I finally said, 'Go to dinner. I'll do it.' When he came back out and saw his car was perfectly parked, he gave me a thumbs-up."
Cherry also could become frustrated with the McCallie boarding students' perceived lack of manners requiring what should and should not be worn at dinner.
"I loved to hear him fuss," Terry said. "'Where are you going in those T-shirts at 5:45 (p.m.)?' he'd yell at them. 'No shirttails out and no hats on or no dinner.'"
And did Ms. Tina - as everyone associated with McCallie long has called her - ever fuss at him?
"I'd fuss with him about his cigarettes," she said. "He tried to quit so many times. But he never could."
On the last day of his life, Cherry went to McCallie before the sun came up, eventually eating breakfast, lunch and dinner there, as was often his custom.
"He had a salad and a grilled chicken breast for dinner that night," Terry recalled. "When he left, I said, 'I love you, Bill Cherry.' He said, 'I love you, Tina Terry.'"
She paused for a moment, struggling with that memory.
"I'm going to miss my friend," she said softly.
She won't be alone.
Mark WiedmerContact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @TFPWeeds.