Barbara Anne (Waterman) Cherry, 64, who was affectionately known as “Bobby”, passed away on October 23, 2013.  She was born in Norfolk, VA June 25, 1949, the daughter of Robert B. Waterman and Dorothy E. (Walsh) Waterman. She was the youngest of three children, Ivia Crowley of Millersville, MD and Christine Waterman of Orlando, Florida are her older sisters. She had one daughter Dorothy L. Cherry-Mycue who is married to Marcelo Myque of Jacksonville, Florida. She had numerous cousins from the Walsh side of her family whom she loved and adored very much. She was survived by her loving and devoted husband of 36 years, Albert G. Cherry of Jacksonville.

Bobby graduated from the University of Florida with degrees as a Registered Physical Therapist in 1973, and as a Certified Speech-Language Pathologist in 1982. Her master’s thesis entitled, “Laryngeal Timing in the Fluent Speech of Stutters” was presented to the Convention of the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association in 1982. She worked in hospitals, private clinics, rehabilitation centers, and for 24 years with the Duval County Public Schools. She taught Physical Therapy in Tehran, Iran, in 1975-76 at Tehran University. She loved her work and especially loved her students at Mt. Herman Exceptional School.

She received a great deal of recognition for her achievements and her details are listed in national and international biographical dictionaries. Member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society since 1982 and in 2003, she was voted one of the top 15 Teachers of the Year in the Duval County School System. She traveled extensively throughout Europe, the middle east, Japan, Honduras, Galapagos Islands, and Antarctica. In her spare time, she enjoyed music, playing piano, 6 / 12 string guitars, and banjo. She studied Spanish, French, German, Swahili, Farsi, and Arabic. She held the rank of first-degree Black Belt in the American Taekwondo Association and was a professional belly dancer known professionally as “Kashmiri.”

Bobby was an inspiration to everyone who knew her by her positive spiritual strength. She was a 21-year breast cancer survivor and was featured many times on Buddy Check 12. These past 5 years she valiantly fought lung cancer by calling upon our Lord for her strength. Her health forced her to retire early at the end of the 2011 school year. She was not idle; she started a blog about her journey and was still posting on it 2 days before she passed on to be with her angels in heaven. Her blog: http://bobbys-updates2.blogspot.com/ for those who are interested.

Bobby will never be forgotten, always dearly loved, and known as an extraordinary woman of God. A memorial Service was held at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Saturday, October 26th at 3:00 p.m., Father Mark Atkinson officiating. A repass was held in the church hall after the service. Interment of her cremains was held at the Jacksonville Veterans National Cemetery.  She asked that in lieu flowers, please support St. Andrew's Episcopal Church Foundation. Her blog was to be published with the proceeds going to the Lung Association in her memory.