Pamela M. Faris was born and raised in Flint-- graduating from Powers Catholic High School in 1975. Pam and her husband, John Cherry, have lived in the Clio, Vienna Township area for 30 years. They have two grown children, Meghan and John Daniel Cherry, a son-in-law, Chris Hennessy and a 5 year old granddaughter, Madeline.
Pam's interest in politics began as a teenager volunteering to work on several political campaigns. She even met her husband through their political involvement with local democratic candidates, and their first date was a political fundraiser.
For many high school graduates in the 1970’s, working in a local General Motors plant was a great way to become independent. In Pam's case, she worked at Fisher Body while attending Mott Community College where she obtained an Associates degree. During that time, she and John Cherry were married; and when their first child was born, Pam chose to stay at home for eight years to raise their children and further her education-- obtaining a Bachelor's degree from Baker College. Nevertheless, Pam remained politically active in her husband’s campaigns for State Representative and State Senate.
In 1989 Pam went to work in the Prosecutors office as a Case Coordinator for District Court. In a few years she was promoted to Jury Coordinator for Genesee County and retired from that position in 2003. In that role, she was instrumental in shortening the number of days jurors are on call from two weeks to two days, raising the awareness of the importance of jury duty and getting legislation passed to increase juror pay. Pam also worked to organize the first Genesee County ‘Take Your Daughter to Work Day”, and instituted the County's recycling program. When she retired she was president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 916, Chapter 10, where she represented supervisory personnel at Circuit Court.
