Highschool Sweethearts
     by Mary Thurman Yuhas

Jerry Twitty and Kathy Johnson Twitty started going steady in their junior year and never stopped.  Along the way, they also married,  two years after graduating from Rocky.  They have two children, Steve, 41, and Jenny, 37.

The couple live in Arvada, Colorado, a suburb of Denver.  Kathy says they have lived in the Denver area for the past 31 years. 

One of their favorite pastimes is  frequent visits from their four grandchildren "We are fortunate because both of our children live close," Kathy said.

Now that Jerry is retired from Sun-Micro Systems, where he worked for 27 years, he plays golf every now and then.  Kathy works part time at a dermatologist's office.  Gardening and her grandchildren are her hobbies.

A priority for both is Mexico.  They usually vacation there one or two times a year for some fun in the sun.

The pair have many fond memories of high school.  Kathy was friends with Lorene Jensen and Pam Miller, and Jerry hung out with the late Jim Denton, Buddy Darr and Terry Baltzer.

Riding up and down the one-ways, the dances after the football and basketball games, Harris Pizza, and senior prom were favorites for both of them.  Jerry said when he saw the movie,  American Graffiti, it was almost like returning to Rocky.

In high school, both worked every night after school.  Kathy worked at a drug store on 18th Ave. and 30th St.  Neither recall the name of it. Does anyone else?  Jerry worked at Geifman's.

They attended the recent reunion, and they said it was great.  The only other reunion they attended was the 10 year.  "That was the first time I'd been back to Rock Island in about 15 years, and a lot of the guys I ran around with were there.  It was fun to see all of the people and how they have changed," Jerry said. 

Kathy said, "It's always nice to remember those carefree high school days."

Jerry has fun memories of driving to the state basketball championship in Champaign with Buddy Dar  "It was much simpler when we were in high school," he said.

They'd love a shout.  Email them at gtwitty@aol.com.