SPOKANE, Wash. — It was so hot. My hair was sticking to my neck and the grass was burning my toes even in the early morning hours. It was one of those perfect Northwest days for doing some light gardening, a brisk walk, or a leisurely boat ride around the lake. However, this was one of my first mini-triathlons and I wasn’t in the mood or spirits for anything leisurely. I just wanted to survive.
Fairly out of shape and minimally prepared, I decided to jump into Liberty Lake with dozens of qualified swimmers for a few hundred-yard swim. It might as well have been a few hundred miles because survival felt tenuous. Within minutes, I felt the pull and kick of much stronger swimmers passing over me. Not swim 'by' me but literally over me. As they swam, I sank, and it was a bad start to a beautiful day.
Eventually, I made it the perfunctory distance and exited the water. I was drenched and pathetic and pulling myself from the lake like some primordial ooze that had no legitimate shape or structure but rather a quivering mess.
As I tried to run forward, I thought I heard a familiar voice. It was a man, cheering each swimmer on as they headed to enter the cycling phase of the race. It was a weekend morning and rather early so the expectation to see someone I knew was low. The expectation to see one of Spokane’s most popular TV personalities was much, much lower.
However, there was Tom Sherry, all smiles and cheering each racer like they were on their way to Olympic gold and not a small, mini-triathlon transition area.
Near last place, I huffed my way by Tom and weakly smiled. He was, after all, a co-worker and a pleasant colleague. That said, I hadn’t worked at KREM that long and wasn’t close with him. But I ran by, and he cheered me on like I was the hero of the day. I chuckled the rest of the race and wondered why Tom Sherry was out cheering on a group of women he didn’t know on a morning that he should have been sleeping in. He worked the late shows at the time and couldn’t have gotten more than a few hours of rest before meeting the group lakeside.
What I didn’t know at that time is that Tom Sherry would become influential in my life and help change my career course.
Not long after that early morning race, I would find myself struggling to start a new path at work. Happy in my life as a reporter, I was starting the journey toward motherhood and wanted to have a more ‘family friendly’ position. KREM was becoming more integrated into community events and creating partnerships to support our many social causes. I was to help guide that process and provide ways for our employees to reach out.
No idea what I was doing, my first task was to help Tom Sherry build the small (at that time) turkey drive that was in its infancy. That turned out to be only the beginning of what Tom wanted to do and, in some cases, was already doing.
Tom was helping host dozens of events and had strong ties to animal welfare (Doppler the Weather Dog), the Alzheimer’s Association, Northwest Autistic Center, school fundraisers, and much more. But during that initial effort to establish community campaigns, Tom helped spearhead new and important causes. He was the first in my sphere to talk about the need to support families and children on the autism spectrum. Not only did he push for stories and education on the issue, but he helped raise awareness and money for the Northwest Autism Center with his Tom’s BBQ Rub sold in local stores.
He also wanted to connect to people in the outlying communities and forge relationships with towns that were outside our traditional reach. He hosted Tom’s Tailgate and spent hours on the road so he could cheer with the local kids on Friday nights throughout the region. He never shirked away from a handshake or a hug and taught me that the community had the right to expect our attention whether we were on-air or not.
He established a bar of community involvement that very few people ever reach and did it for all the right reasons. Yes, it connected him to viewers and engaged our audience, but he did it because it also brought people joy. It brought our community a connection and it transcended the traditional viewer—weather person relationship. He wasn’t talking at anyone, he was talking with people. And on some days, talking for people. And he loved it.
Tom will tell you that he loves people, and that’s true. I’ve watched it for two decades and there is no statement that is more true when it comes to Tom Sherry. But what I learned and what has helped drive my passion for this community and for all of our outreach is that when you love people, they will love you back. They will like you, watch you, and most importantly trust you.
Working with Tom was fun. Sometimes, it was tiring and demanding. But most of all, it changed everything. Because of my work with Tom in the community, I never doubted we were doing the right thing at KREM with our community outreaches. They weren’t always the most popular events or the ones that made the lead story, but I’ve always believed they were (and are) often the most important because they are the stories, campaigns, fundraisers, late nights, and early mornings that make a positive impact on the average person. The person that Tom always loves and wants to help. And he made me want to be there as well.
So, while he’s most noted for Tom’s Turkey Drive, remember that there were hundreds of other hours and days that he worked to make the Inland Northwest better. And in doing so, he made me better.
Thank you, Tom. Thanks for fiercely loving our community, thanks for using your platform for good, and thanks for cheering me and all the participants on that day at the lake. I lost the race that day, but it made the rest of my life a win.
