Faith, Family, Friends, and Fried Chicken

By Sherry-Marie Perguson

Through tragic loss to triumphant success, for richer or poorer, Sherry-Marie Perguson was advised for years to write her story. Now, in a style of storytelling that Sherry laughingly describes as Erma Bombeck meets Joel Osteen, and they have dinner together, comes her memoir, which circles around four instrumental influences in her existence: Faith, Family, Friends, and Fried Chicken.

Growing up in the 50s Sherry-Marie became a talented songwriter and musician, writing over 70 songs and recording three albums, one of which was with her siblings. Unintentionally, she put her writing on hold while blessed to raise her family. She became a successful entrepreneur as the owner of Sherrys Southern Charm & Tea, a famous tearoom and antique shop. Related to such influential figures as Mary Todd Lincoln and George Clooney, shes also a speaker to womens groups, and an award-winning licensed realtor and antique appraiser, just to name a few of her accomplishments. After retiring in 2014, Sherry decided to embark on the next phase of her life: writing this book.

From biscuits with chocolate gravy to favorite recipes from her revered Tea Room, readers can indulge not only in dozens of treasured family recipes from Sherrys Southern roots, but also in a heartwarming and sincere expression of American family life.

Praise for Faith, Family, Friends, and Fried Chicken

Sherry shares a unique heritage we must cherish and perpetuate. Concern for others is a Godly virtue often reflected in her writing, family, and profession.

Joe Carr, retired Estate Gift Planning Director, Banner Health Foundation

I have known Sherry for over 20 years, and she is the most reliable, trustworthy, and innovative person that I have known or worked with in my military and business career, which has spanned more than 50 years. I am confident her book will be well received by any who read it.

James M. Jones Jr., retired Lt. Col USAF, President/CEO of J2 Inc.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abbott Press
• Release date: Nov 21, 2014
• ISBN: 9781458218186

Sherry-Marie Perguson

Sherry-Marie Perguson is known for her ability to entertain readers with her life stories, which are told in a sassy, southern, and humorous style. She is the author of seven fun and inspirational books: The Faith, Family, Friends and Fried Chicken trilogy Southern & Sassy … with a Side of Faith And Then God Made Chocolate God, You, and Red Ruby Shoes Your Crown Slips, So What, Sparkle On Sherry-Marie continues to spread joy and encouragement to all her readers everywhere. As a speaker, she has held women’s conferences, and she is in demand at all types of ladies’ events, such as book clubs, coffee groups, and corporate self-help seminars. Sherry-Marie resides in the Phoenix, Arizona, area. There she has been showcased on Channel 3 Arizona’s Family Morning Show and featured in the local magazine 85086. She is a songwriter and a musician. She has written over seventy songs. Many of them have been recorded on her personal and family albums. She is a businesswoman. She has owned and operated a highly successful tearoom and a mini antique mall for several years. But her passion by far is her desire to be an encourager. This explains her quest to become an author. When asked why she loves writing and speaking so much, Sherry-Marie responded, I have fallen in love with my readers. We know life is short and filled with lots of ups and downs. But if I can bring a smile to your face and chuckle from your belly, make you hungry and you get up to cook one of our recipes, and encourage you to keep your faith and know Jesus a little better, I am the most blessed of all women.

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 Sherry-Marie Perguson.

Cover Design sketched by Laurita J. Dunegan

Cover Design by Steven Novak, www.novakillustration.com

Editing and Self-Publishing Consultation provided by:

Midnight Publishing, LLC, www.midnightpublishingllc.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of creative nonfiction. The events are portrayed in occurrence as I experienced them.

Two dollars of each book sale will be donated to the non-profit Grace North Family Camp Scholarship Fund

Abbott Press

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.abbottpress.com

Phone: [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ISBN: 978-1-4582-1817-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4582-1818-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014919792

Abbott Press rev. date: 11/21/2014

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Early Years in Kentucky

Chapter 2: Traveling Teens

Chapter 3: Tragic Twenties

Chapter 4: Thirty-Something

Chapter 5: The Roaring Forties

Chapter 6: Fabulous Fifties

Chapter 7: Sixty and Beyond

Recipe

"Sometimes God redeems your story by surrounding

you with people who need to hear your past, so it doesn’t

become their future."

— Jon Acuff

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my Mom, Blondell Rose, the first sweet Southern lady

I ever knew.

I miss you Mom, every day.

To my sister, Laurita Jean; you are the best sister anyone could ever ask for. You make me laugh, you make me cry, and you love me unconditionally.

I love you so much sistah!

To my husband, Jimmie D., you are my forever prince; you have seen me at my worst,

but you still love me and believe in me.

I love you with all my heart!

To my three girls; my jewels and my angels,

Bethany, Charity, & Ammanda Faith.

Thank you for the unbelievable amount of joy you have brought into my life.

I pray you live your life with passion, love and integrity.

Never missing a chance to dance your dance.

I love you!

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I want to express my sincere appreciation to my very talented editor, Lauren Wise, Head of Editorial, Midnight Publishing.

She was truly sent by God into my life at the perfect time. Lauren worked long hours to make my ramblings presentable to you, my readers. I cannot imagine how I could have ever delivered my message without her gentle and compassionate nudging. Thank you Lauren, you are an amazing soul, talented beyond anything imaginable.

Since my journey brought you into my life, I consider you a friend now, and am honored to have worked side by side with you throughout the entire process of Faith, Family, Friends, and Fried Chicken, or FFFF, as you so fondly referred to it. Hugs!

Second, to my adorable, funny, quirky sister. You get me! I mentioned to you what I had in my head for the cover of my book and asked you to sketch it. You immediately sat down and brought my idea to life.

Thank you for always believing in me and encouraging me. I love you so much. I love my flying chicken leg!

Introduction

Last week, a few weeks shy of my 63rd birthday in 2014, I retired from my day job.

Today I am beginning the next exciting chapter of my life: writing this book. I call it Faith, Family, Friends, and Fried Chicken.

Faith… because it has surrounded my life, even in the darkest hours when I didn’t think I had any left. Through the years when I hid from God because I thought He was mad at me, yet Faith still surrounded me. After all, as the Bible says: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Family… because that’s who we begin our life’s journey with as they play a large part of what we become. My Southern roots run deep!

Friends… because I have been abundantly blessed to have the most loyal, lifelong friends that any one girl could ever ask for!

Fried Chicken… because I think I was placed on this earth to eat fried chicken, and every other wonderful food my BFF and I can dream up.

So find a comfy spot, grab your blankie and your favorite beverage, and enjoy sharing the stories of my life, full of laughter and tears, happiness and sadness, fun and work, and of course, food.

I hope you laugh with me until your tummy hurts, and then cry with me—but not too much—be brave enough to try some of the recipes, and most of all … enjoy the ride!

~ Chapter One ~

Early Years in Kentucky

I’m proud of my deep Southern roots; I thrive on them. They bring memories of growing up in the 1950s when life was simpler, and in my small world, that was the happiest of times.

I was born at Baptist Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, on July 25, 1951 and named Sharon Sherry Marie Burkhead. I was the first-born of my proud parents, Blondell Rose Lane Burkhead and Donald Ray Burkhead.

My mother always carried herself with Southern charm, even when fighting her most severe battles. She was also a beauty queen, voted Homecoming Queen of her senior class. Needless to say, she was truly a strong Southern woman.

My mom and dad met one day when she was waitressing at the local drug store and he came in with another girl. My mom says she remembers exactly what he had on and what he ordered to eat.

My dad always loved telling us the following story of their courtship. Mom lived in Lebanon Junction, which was in Bullitt County, Kentucky. Dad lived in Boston, which was in Nelson County, Kentucky. He had a black ’39 Plymouth Coupe and it was cool then to have the back end lowered, so he put cement blocks in the trunk to bring down the back of the car. The other cool guys had blinds on the back windows of their cars. Dad didn’t have blinds, but he had put strips of tape across the window to resemble blinds. He would drive across the Bullitt and Nelson county lines almost every day, sometimes twice a day, to visit my mom.

Somewhere along the way he drew attention to himself; maybe going too fast, maybe crossing the county line too many times. He didn’t know. But one evening he was stopped by a group of men known as the Revenuers. The Revenuers were lawmen from the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Division, who were assigned to abolish illegal liquor trafficking, which at that time was a lot of moonshine. Moonshine was very prevalent in the hills of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. The Revenuers thought he was trafficking illegal moonshine! He said they asked him to get out of the car, and then they opened the trunk and searched the entire car, from top to bottom. Of course they found nothing. They told him they had been watching him for quite some time, but Dad wasn’t hauling moonshine … he was wooing my mom!

My dad’s parents were Bertha Lee Thompson Burkhead and Max Leo Burkhead, and my grandfather Max owned a sawmill. My mom’s parents were