Charleston native Sherika L. Bradford has been promoted to the rank of major in the United States Army.
While the promotion was effective March 1, she was pinned by her sister, Cachket Bradford-Boyer of Wichita, Kansas, during a March 4 ceremony presided over by Lt. Col. Corinthia Romain.
Bradford, the youngest daughter of Maggie and Jimmy Farris, is a 2006 graduate of Charleston High School, an Ole Miss ROTC graduate and is currently a student at Command General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Of attaining the rank of major, the 16-year Army veteran said, “It is the first level of field-grade officer rank and a big achievement in the Army.”
Major Sherika L. Bradford, right, is pinned by her sister, Cachket Bradford-Boyer of Wichita, Kansas, on March 4. (Photo special to The Sun-Sentinel)
Bradford said, “I really wished my parents could have been there.”
Bradford’s 55-year-old father, "Little" Jimmy Farris, and her 3-year-old daughter, Allyssa Farris, died of smoke inhalation in a March 8, 2007, house fire in Charleston. Tuesday marked the 15th anniversary of that tragedy.
Friday, March 11, marks the one-year anniversary of the death of her mother, Maggie Farris, 67, who was anxious to share in the joy of her daughter’s promotion.
“Mom kept asking when do I pin, but there is a process,” Bradford recalled.
The timing of her promotion was bittersweet, she noted, as she struggled to balance her remembrances and feelings for those she has lost, with a sense of pride and accomplishment that comes from her new personal achievement.
"Quite the week," she said in a Monday email. “Success has honestly barely registered with all of the emotion."
