Sheriff Eddie Cathey has been in law enforcement for more than 45 years. He grew up in western North Carolina but has lived all around the state during his years with the Highway Patrol. Sheriff Cathey graduated from Pisgah High School in 1967. He worked at construction and at the Enka nylon plant until being inducted into the United States Army in 1969.  He completed basic training at Ft. Bragg and was assigned to the military police training at Fort Gordon, Georgia.  After training he was assigned to Korea at a Nuclear Hercules missile site on the Yellow Sea. While there he was given secret clearance to work inside the missile site. He was later promoted to the section director for the attack dog section responsible for security for the sight.

Sheriff Cathey was honorably discharged after his tour of duty and returned home to the textile plant where he soon decided to pursue a career in law enforcement at the Canton Police Department.

After eleven months he applied and was accepted by the Highway Patrol. In August of 1974 he was assigned to Union County as his first duty station. He was selected to be in the first class of sniper trained Highway Patrolmen in the State and was selected under Governor Martin to be in the first class trained under the secret service training for executive security.  In 1985 he was promoted to Line Sergeant and assigned to Scotland, Hoke, and Richmond counties. He later transferred to Henderson, Polk, and Transylvania counties. In 1989 he was promoted to First Sergeant and assigned to Roanoke Rapids supervising Halifax and North Hampton counties until being transferred back to Union County in 1991 where he remained as the First Sergeant over Union and Anson Counties until his retirement on September 30, 2000.

During his career he transported and was responsible for the security of such dignitaries as President Gerald Ford, Senator Robert Dole, West Virginia Governor Nelson Rockefeller, Jr.; North Carolina Governors’ James Holshouser, Jim Hunt and Jim Martin, United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, The Dalai Lama, numerous heads of state and dignitaries and last but not least, Elvis Presley and Mick Jaggar.

He was elected Sheriff of Union County and was sworn in on December 1, 2002.

Sheriff Cathey has been quoted as saying that becoming Sheriff has been one of the best decisions he has ever made and hasn't found anything about the job that he does not like.