www.roanoke.com

Jill Sluss | special to So Salem

Brenda, Cheryl, and Michelle have shared their lives since elementary school.

Most people lose touch with their childhood friends. This is not true for three certain ladies in Salem.

Cheryl Crowder Rakes, Michelle Cordle Darby and Brenda Cole Baxley have held on to their friendship since their days at South Salem Elementary (called "the round school" then). Cheryl and Michelle have been friends since kindergarten. Brenda moved here from Pennsylvania and became friends with the pair in the third grade. Brenda said, "I remember that you all talked funny." Cheryl and Michelle thought that it was unusual that Brenda drank unsweetened tea.

The three women's lives have many parallels. They were born exactly three days apart: Cheryl on September 10, Brenda on September 13 and Michelle on September 16. As children they celebrated their birthdays together; they still do, only now their husbands join in the celebration.

Other elementary school memories together include sandlot cheerleading, basketball, softball, football (in the field behind Cheryl's house) and sleigh riding.

In middle school at Andrew Lewis, their lockers were together because of their last names.

High school created more fond memories, including being in the same homeroom (again because of alphabetical order), being led by Coach Oliver, and singing in the school choir directed by Mr. Snyder. They also had many slumber parties and they reminisced about a particular one during the Flood of '85. They remembered cruising down Main Street from the Burger King Duck Pond to Hardee's and eating pizza at Pizza Hut or Carini's after Salem football games. Cheryl said that they were "really good kids." They "didn't do drugs and [they] were all on the honor roll."

Another interesting parallel is that Cheryl has a twin brother named Greg. Both Michelle and Brenda dated Greg, and in fact Michelle was his first girlfriend.

After high school they all went in different directions: Cheryl went to Emory and Henry University and then medical school at the University of South Carolina; Michelle went to Roanoke College and Hollins University; Brenda went to Virginia Western Community College and Averett University. They still managed to stay in touch. After college Cheryl and Brenda lived together for a while. Michelle might as well have lived there as well, she visited so often.

All of them have shared in each other's weddings and childbirths. For example, Cheryl lived in Franklin County for a while and once received a phone call from Brenda. Cheryl said, "it took me 15 minutes to figure out what she was telling me because she was crying." Brenda was in the hospital having one of her children at 28 weeks. Cheryl got to the hospital as fast as she could and stayed with her. Michelle helped by bringing food. She was pregnant herself, although she did not tell the others her news until later.

Each has two children now: Cheryl has two boys (Seth and Wilson), Michelle has one of each (Kemper and Ryland), and Brenda has two girls (Brooke and Madison). All three have children who currently attend South Salem or will attend the school in the fall. They are thrilled to have their children at the same school they attended.

Cheryl said, "I can count on their friendship. These are the two people that I can call ... if I was in Texas and called them to say that I needed help, they would be there."

Michelle summed up their friendship by saying, "it is timeless ... I have had the same friends my entire life ... we still go to the same places we did as kids ... we have never aged."