Page 21 - The Exceptional Harley Fetterman

THE EXCEPTIONAL HARLEY FETTERMAN

beloved ranching career. Being exceptionally civic minded, he is well
remembered as contributing immensely to the local community in
political, historical, agricultural, school and church activities. At the
time, Beth was just six years old. She was the youngest of five
siblings—three sisters (Sharon, Kathy, and Lynn) and one brother
(Sandy, second oldest). The Shaeffer/Freeborn ranch (site of the actual
homestead of Sidney and Jean) is located halfway between George
West and Alice, Texas. Beth attended all twelve years of grade school
at George West.

Kevin's legendary family history was also greatly influenced by the
circumstances of his father, Jerry James Fetterman, born in 1938 and
raised in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Tragically, Jerry was only three
years old when his father died resulting in his troubled childhood. At
the young age of six, Jerry began attending Girard Boarding School, a
43-acre independent school in Philadelphia which enrolls
academically capable students, grades one through twelve, who have
potential for scholastic achievement and come from a single-parent
low-income family. Girard students are prepared for higher education
with a rigorous program that promotes learning along with social and
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emotional stability. Jerry Fetterman attended Girard through 8 grade
and Wilkes-Barre High School until 10 grade when he quit to join
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the Navy.
Navy life was evidently a good match for Jerry—it provided lots of
job training along with an adventurous lifestyle. While Jerry was
stationed in Corpus Christi, Texas, he met his wife-to-be, Cissie, who
was then studying to become a nurse. Cissie was a native Texan raised
in McMullin County. During Jerry's twenty years in service to the
Navy, he and Cissie moved back and forth between various naval
stations in New Jersey, Louisiana, California, Maryland, Delaware
and back to Texas. When Jerry retired from the Navy, he took a job
with US Steel at a uranium plant near George West, Texas.

Kevin, first-born son of Jerry James Fetterman, was born in 1960
when Jerry was stationed in Lake Hurst, New Jersey. When Kevin
was 6 months old, they moved to New Iberia, Louisiana where soon
his brother, Kerry, and sister, Kelly, were born. Kevin remembers
attending three different kindergartens. During his youth, Kevin
attended school in five different states. When the Fettermans finally
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