Miss Sherley’s Machines

As we honor Black History Month and celebrate the people who shaped Caterpillar over the last 100 years, Sherley's story of determination and impact is a shining example of our commitment to Our Values in Action and helping our customers build a better, more sustainable world. 

Sherley has worked at Caterpillar 55 years – more than half the time our company has been in existence. 

Fifty-five years is a long time … 660 months … 20,075 days. And for many people, 55 years seems a long time to work for the same employer. Back in 1969, it felt the same way for Sherley – one of 12 children born to a Caton, Mississippi, sharecropper and his wife. 

As an adolescent growing up on the farm, Sherley made $3 a day working from sunrise to sunset in the unforgiving cotton fields of the Deep South. Yet she managed to squeeze in an education around her family responsibilities. Soon after finishing high school, Sherley headed to Decatur, Illinois, to live with her sister and a few other young women seeking prosperous lives. Not long after she arrived, one of the church deacons took Sherley to Caterpillar to apply for a job. 

Today, sitting at a breakroom table in the Decatur facility on a chilly winter day, her quick, genuine smile warms the room, and her eyes are as bright and clear as we imagine they were in her youth. She’s respectfully known in this community as Miss Sherley – a reflection of the care and affection with which others view her. 

 Miss Sherley loves people and has never met a stranger. Her life is open for all to see.

“My first thought coming into the job interview back then was, ‘I probably won’t get the job anyway,’” Sherley says of her first interaction with the company. “At that time, you came to the plant and filled out an application. But afterward, I had a face-to-face interview with a man in HR, Dave Matthews, and I thought it went pretty well.” 

Matthews said he’d call her in a week or two, but within three days, the phone rang. Sherley had landed the job.  

“I was thrilled, but the surprising aspect was that the job was on third shift,” she continues, “I had never before stayed up all night. Not once in my entire life. I was a sharecropper’s daughter. You worked during the day and, at night, you slept.” 

But work at night she did. It was the beginning of a 14-year stint on Caterpillar’s third shift. And Sherley started building machines.

Early Days. 
At first, she thought that she would work for a short while, then return to Mississippi. Sherley’s dream – both then and now – was to attend college. “When I started working at Caterpillar, I thought factory work was hard. And it was. But so was working on a cotton farm in unbearable heat from sunup to sundown,” she says. “The factory was physical labor, but I was used to that. So, I thought I’d tackle it head-on and see what happens. And I went to work.”

Going from $3 a day to being paid by the hour seemed to Sherley like she’d found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Still, Sherley was convinced she’d be moving on. “I thought I’d go to work, make a few dollars and get myself set up to go to college.” But then she says, “Life happened.”

Indeed, it did. Sherley met a man in the neighborhood, and they began dating. Before too long, they married and had a son. “Even after my son was born, I thought, ‘I’m still gonna go back to school.’ And I still have that on my bucket list today.”

When their son was small, Sherley and her husband worked different shifts but pulled together to create the life they envisioned. “We worked hard and expected our son to do the same,” she says, adding that her son began attending school at age two, graduated from college with honors and currently holds an assistant city manager position in a neighboring town of nearly 80,000 people. “Those are the kind of people we are. We were cut from fabric of that nature,” Sherley says.

Positive Attitude and Changing Times. 
Sherley’s positive attitude and commitment to hard work never waiver. And, although her path was inevitably altered by a world that doesn’t stand still, she is keenly aware she has had the freedom to make choices along the way.

“I’m a firm believer in the power of choice. My life is up to me – if it is to be, it’s up to me. But you have to work at it, and sometimes it’s hard. You have to adapt to changes. Maybe you don’t always want to, but you manage it and make the best of what’s in front of you. If you maintain that attitude, you can’t go wrong.”

During the past 55 years, Sherley has seen some changes. 

“When I hired in, there weren’t many Black employees, not even in the shop.

“We’ve got an awesome set of people representing minorities now. I’m just so proud of them. In that way, Caterpillar has been able to change over the years. And I see “us” doing what we’re supposed to do. Give us the opportunity, and we’ll do it,” Sherley says with a smile.

Touching Customers. 
There is no question Sherley is helping customers build a better world – her connection to customers and their work is always top of mind. She explains, “I am one person sitting here in the torque department in Decatur, Illinois. We build machines and send them out everywhere in the world.” 

Once in a while, Sherley sees one of her machines working on the side of the road while she’s on the way to work or the grocery store. Even then – especially then – she feels the connection. “Every nut, bolt, screw, hose clamp; everything that’s tightened on that machine came through me. So, my little mark is there,” Sherley says with pride. Those are Sherley’s machines.

“When I go up and down the highway and see Caterpillar products working, I see my impact. I will continue being a part of it even after I leave this earth.”

What’s Next? 
Sherley’s son has stopped asking when she’ll retire. It’s not that the grandmother of two is unwilling to answer the question; it’s just that she herself does not know the answer.

“I’ll retire when I get to the point that I can’t contribute anymore. Or maybe when I decide to do something different – maybe when I finally decide to take those classes. Or maybe when it’s time to take off with the grandkids and travel the world. I want to do that someday.”

When asked what she wants her legacy to be, Sherley is silent momentarily. Then she answers softly, “I helped. I want people to say I did what was best for Caterpillar and myself. And I helped.”