John Crede and Barbara Kropen Crede  have been sweethearts for many years, but unlike most classmates who dated during high school and later married, Barbara and John didn't even know each other during high school.   "I knew who he was, but he didn't know me," Barbara said.

John says that's because he was the "new kid" and found getting acquainted in such a large school daunting.  He moved to Rocky from Kankakee in his junior year.  It wasn't until that first summer after graduation that the pair became acquainted.  Both were at a friend's house and Barbara was playing bridge.  When her partner had to leave, John filled in for him.  "She was good because I didn't know how to play - and we won," John said. 

Five more years passed.  "We were in different schools in different places and one of us was always dating someone else," Barbara explained.

John attended the Univ. of Illinois in Champaign and graduated from Augustana with a degree in math while Barbara majored in art at Iowa State in Ames, Iowa.

When they did reconnect in 1967, both said it was a whirlwind courtship. They married that same year and moved to Carbondale where John earned a master's degree in math at Southern Illinois Univ.  But instead of going into the business world, John had a change of heart and followed in his minister father's footsteps.  He graduated from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston and served as a minister in the United Methodist Church.

Today the couple lives in Moline.  They have three children, Paul, 35, Steve, 33, and Joe, 24, and five grandchildren.

Barbara still paints and throughout the years has won many awards for her watercolor and pen and ink art. 

John is retired but works part-time as a pastor for Hampton in the Twin Rivers Parish of the United Methodist Church in the Quad Cities area, and that leaves the twosome with time to enjoy life together.  They like to go bike riding and spend family time with their children and grandchildren, who all live in the state.    "We haven't got back into it yet, but we'd love to play bridge," she said.

They hope to get some traveling in this upcoming year.   Barbara remarked, "We took a trip to London last year and had a great time."

 In high school, Barbara played on the girl's golf team and fondly remembers her coach, Shorty Almquist.  She also played tennis and took as many art classes as she could.

Like most others in the class, she recalls how much she enjoyed the dances on Friday nights.  The swimming and track meets were also activities she enjoyed.

John was active in the youth group at the First Methodist Church in Rock Island where his father was pastor.  He tried band in his junior year but opted for senior glee and the boys' quartet in his senior year.  "We went to various schools for assemblies on Fridays and always worked it out to miss Miss Hankins (senior English) class."  

Barbara and John have attended most of the class reunions and plan to attend the 50th.  They would enjoy hearing from you and can tell you how they became grandparents of five in one year.   Their email address is john.crede@yahoo.com.