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T-Day at Troy University on April 23 was a special day for Trojan Athletics as it previewed the hopes and expectations for the upcoming football season. And, it was special, also, in that a time was set aside to remember and honor the memory of Cheryl DiChiara, whom Troy University Chancellor Dr. Jack Hawkins, remembers as “a model alumna and true Trojan.”

The collective desire of Cheryl DiChiara’s university friends was to dedicate a lasting tribute to her memory at a location that was very dear to her heart.

At T-Day, a bench was dedicated to the memory of Cheryl C. DiChiara: “Loved by Many, A true Trojan” by current and former Troy Athletic Department staff.

The bench is located at the entrance of the Troy University Athletic Department.

Dr. Mickey DiChiara said the bench dedication is a heartfelt tribute to the memory of his wife who was a “true Trojan” and dedicated supporter and cheerleader for Troy University athletics.

“Cheryl was always a “Troy girl,” DiChiara said. “She loved everything about Troy, Alabama. The town, the people, the university.”

Cheryl DiChiara was majorette at Charles Henderson High School and was also a majorette at her hometown university.

She was a graduate of Troy’s fourth nursing school class. She worked at the local hospital and later with her husband’s private practice, Pike Internal Medicine.

Neither her husband nor her daughter, Marilee Hussey, knows what factors inspired Cheryl to go into the medical field.

“She just loved to take care of people,” Dichiara said.

That kind of love and dedication comes from deep within, her daughter said.

Cheryl was one of the “Colley girls” and two of her uncles were doctors. That could have had some influence but her desire was deeply heartfelt.

“My mother had a loving and helping heart,” Hussey said.

Cheryl DiChiara loved downtown Troy and worked with the revitalization committee. She served on the TroyFest board and volunteered with Relay for Life and the Heart Board. She was on the advisory board of Troy Health and Rehab and on the board of the Colley Senior Complex and a top fundraiser for the senior center.

“Cheryl wanted to be a part of anything that was good for the community,” her husband said. “And, no matter what was going on at Troy University, she was a part of it – sports, theater, the arts.”

And, if there had been a marble tournament, she would have cheered for the Trojans.

Cheryl DiChiara is greatly missed in Troy and by all who knew her.  But, her family finds comfort in knowing that she did the best and most good she could for the people she knew and loved, Troy University and the town she called home.