Sherry Cress- Athens On Valentine's Day we lost our beloved mother, grandmother, sister and dear friend Sherry. Or as the grandkids called her "Ami". She passed away at home where she was surrounded by her children, grandchildren and dear friend Peggy. Sherry was born December 15, 1950, in Conway MA. She was the daughter of Edward and Phyllis Guilford. Sherry grew up on a farm in Conway where she went to almost every fair in the area with the family's pulling horses and oxen. She attended Conway Grammar School then graduated from Frontier High School in Deerfield, MA in 1969. In her teens Sherry would spend her summers babysitting the Bean children of Whatley MA. While she was there, she became good friends with Lois and Roger Bean. It was there that she learned from Lois how to sew and how to cook. In 1989 Sherry and he late husband Allen packed up their belongings and moved to Maine where they built their dream farm and log cabin. Once they were settled in, Sherry and Allen started their Black Angus beef operation once again. In the fall time they would take custom orders for beef. For many years Sherry and Allen welded brackets for Habitat Post and Beam of Deerfield MA. Sherry drove school bus and worked in the kitchen at the Athens Elementary school for many years. There she watched many kids in the community grow up and become adults. During her time working with the kids, she picked up the name "Miss Sherry". Sherry and Allen went on many hunting and fishing trips over the years often going on the trips with family and friends. For many years they rented out cabins they had on their property to hunters in the fall time. Every morning, she would make a big breakfast for them before they left for the day, and when they got back, they had an even bigger meal waiting for them. Sherry had many hobbies that she enjoyed. One of her favorite hobbies she had was tending to her flower gardens. She had almost every variety of flower you could think of. One of her favorite flowers was her hibiscus or as Molly would call them her "hot biscuits". Anyone that knew her knew her biggest passions in life were baking and cooking. She loved to bake. Anytime anyone would stop and visit her and Allen, she always had some baked goods in the kitchen for everyone to enjoy. Often times she would have one or many of the grandchildren there baking or canning in the summertime. She was always proud to look through the huge glass cupboard she had and see all of her canned goods she had preserved for the winter. Besides canning she enjoyed the Christmas season and her Santa Claus collection. It didn't matter to her what the Santa's were whether they were made of plastic, glass, wood, metal, or porcelain it didn't matter she had to have it. She dedicated a whole room to store all of them in which she called the "Santa Claus room". Her entire Christmas tree was always filled with only Santa ornaments. Besides her hobbies, she loved having her 3-year-old great granddaughter Charlotte come up from Mass and visit. It brought a lot of joy to her life when Charlotte would visit, the two would spend some time each visit checking out the game room and looking at her and Allen's hunting trophies. In August of 2025 she lost the love of her life Allen Cress (Buck) of 45 years. Sherry leaves behind her son Gene Hay and wife April, granddaughters Lauren and Molly of Athens. A daughter Lynn Benson and husband Kurt, grandchildren Kyle, Jared, Sydney Taylor and great-granddaughter Charlotte all of Ashfield, MA. A son David Hay and wife Penny, and grandson Austin of Madison. Stepdaughter, Christy Bistrek and husband Travis, granddaughters Caitlin and Meredith all of Shelburne MA. Stepdaughter, Rebecca Burchill and granddaughter Emma Shea of Maine. A sister Susan Herrick and friend (Terri) of Charlemont MA. Sherry also leaves behind many nieces and nephews and her beloved cat Ruby. The family would like to give a huge thank you to the special staff of the oncology department at Redington- Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan. A celebration of life will be held for Sherry at a later date once her flowers are blooming.