Defying Disability:
One Couple’s Journey of Fierce Love and Unwavering Faith

Defying Disability: One Couple’s Journey of Fierce Love and Unwavering Faith tells the inspiring story of Bert and Darlene Cherry, as written by their niece, Dinah Jordan.

Darlene was a small-town single mother from Arkansas. Bert was a small-town preacher’s son from Oklahoma. When their paths crossed in 1952, these young adults were both learning to carve a new future for themselves after recovering from the devastation of polio. The rehabilitation facility in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, not only fostered independence through therapy and trade skills training, but it served as the scene where they fell in love.

“Critics wondered how Darlene, in a wheelchair, and Bert, on crutches, could ever manage. Outsiders looked at their weaknesses and predicted a brief marriage. They looked at each other’s strengths and made a lifelong commitment. They learned to pool their strengths to accomplish necessary tasks.” - brother-in-law Dale.

After settling in Dallas, Bert and Darlene lived long, productive lives in a world that pre-dated the Americans with Disabilities Act. Their faith sustained them as they navigated an able-bodied world with disabled bodies. Bert had a long, productive career in the credit union industry. Darlene managed a childcare service from their home.

They raised three children, who blessed them with 11 grandchildren and multiple great-grandchildren.  Their fierce love for each other and their family, and their faith in God, were the glue that held them together.

This biography describes their origins before and up to their crippling experiences with polio, then follows the journey that led them to each other and decades of fierce love and unwavering faith.

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READER REVIEWS

  • "First of all, I knew nothing about polio and the information and the history of how they treated it were very interesting. I love stories of how people can overcome things and lead a normal life and even better when 2 people can find each other and share their lives together with the same disability. It was a very beautiful story with a lot of great articles and pictures from the past."

    Kerrie, Amazon Customer Review

  • "This book will both inspire and educate you. The story of Bert and Darlene Cherry is one that shows the reader that love trumps adversity and wins against all odds. I couldn’t stop reading it once I started. The things that this couple dealt with both physically and mentally in their daily life would have most people cowering in the corner, but these two persevered and created a legacy of love and faith for their family."

    Amazon Customer Review

  • "Defying Disability is an informative look back to the 1950s and how two people kept a winning attitude and persevered as they moved through life sharing their best selves with each other and their friends and family."

    Gene, Amazon Customer Review

Darlene Before Polio

“In August 1945, I was a married young woman. I had a precious baby girl, my husband was in the Navy, and I was living with my mother. The second World War was going to be over soon, and I thought life was as good as it could get.” - Darlene

 

Bert Before Polio

“Life was good. These were good years. My senior year, I earned good grades - all A’s except for typing. I played several musical instruments; my favorite was the trombone. The summer of 1949, I worked for a local farmer. I would trot most places I went. I really enjoyed it.” - Bert

Fun Facts about the Book

 

You’ll see burgundy featured in the book and in this website because it is the color for polio awareness.

The paperback book uses the Georgia font, which is perfect because Darlene’s given name was Georgia Darlene.