A lifelong dream was fulfilled for one WNC veteran this Veterans Day, Nov. 11.
At the North Carolina State Veterans Home in Black Mountain, A-B Tech President John Gossett presented Bernice Buchin Liverett, 103, with an Honorary Associate of Applied Science degree in Culinary Arts on Friday.
Liverett is a veteran of the U.S. Army who worked in food service and medical transportation during World War II at Camp Miles Standish in Massachusetts and Fort Dix in New Jersey, before being honorably discharged in 1946.
She was born in 1919 in New York and later moved to North Carolina in 1946 after she married a U.S. Navy veteran.
She is renowned for her cooking and baking skills and for hosting holiday celebrations for friends and family. She's especially well-known for her famous butter mints, which she has gifted to loved ones and even sold by the pound.
Liverett had a lifelong goal of earning a degree in culinary arts. On Nov. 11, 2022, that dream came true, as the president of A-B Tech presented her with an honorary degree. Fittingly, she wore a chef hat as she accepted her degree -- an achievement a lifetime in the making.