Page 22 - The Exceptional Harley Fetterman

JUDY K JOHNSON

settled in George West, Texas, Kevin attended the local high school
for part of his freshman year through his senior year.

Magically, stars seemed to be aligned for the first coincidental
th
meeting of Beth and Kevin. Beth was in 8 grade when Kevin's
family moved into a home located just behind the home of one of
Beth's best friends, Jamye Williams. Since Beth lived at the ranch so
far out of town, she often visited Jamye after school band activities.
One fateful day as the two girls walked to Jamye's, the new neighbor,
Kevin, joined them. They stopped at the Dairy Diner to get cold
drinks. Dismayed, Beth realized she had forgotten her purse at the
band hall. A gracious Kevin lent her a quarter to buy that first Dr.
Pepper which started a great friendship. Eventually, they discussed
dating. However, Beth feared that their great friendship might suffer.
She didn't want to ruin such a good thing.

In high school, Kevin was known to many as somewhat of an
outsider since he was a “new-comer” to the area. Unfortunately, his
senior trip ended in catastrophe when, against all school rules, some
students were caught with alcohol. Fingers quickly pointed at the
new-comer. School administration soon blamed Kevin for the
misconduct and threatened to disqualify him from graduation. It
actually might have been slightly in Kevin's character to do such a
boisterous thing when he found the senior trip to local ranch land just
too boring! Most never knew if he was correctly accused or not. But
in this instance, Kevin, with support from his father, withdrew from
high school just two weeks before graduation without receiving a
diploma.
Kevin's life dramatically shifted as he left home to find work in the
Texas oilfields which spanned the next twenty years. (Along the way,
Kevin became determined to acquire his GED. Eventually, a career-
changing opportunity would provide him employment at Austin's
Water Department where hard work and dedication would one day
raise him to management level with the title of Superintendent.) But
at the point when Kevin quit school and moved on to the oilfields,
Kevin and Beth lost contact—their life journeys took much different
directions.

Beth graduated and went on to Texas A&M University where she

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