Love story: Sherry and Bill Hieb first found love with each other, then with the Spokane region

Our love story starts back in 1967 when we were both 13 years old and in seventh grade at an after-school dance in the gymnasium.

The girls were on one side of the gym, and the boys were on the other side.

This muscular guy came across the gym floor and asked me to dance a slow dance. He was so shy, he hardly said any words to me! He did ask for my phone number, though, and we started talking on the phone after school. We eventually became boyfriend and girlfriend, and we dated all through high school.

The thing I loved the most about him was that he always made me laugh … and he still does! I graduated from high school on June 9, 1972, and we got married on June 12, three days later!

We moved from the Bay Area in California to the small town of Reardan, Washington, so Bill could help his uncle at the Mobile gas station there. Expo ‘74 was on the horizon, and his uncle needed some help. What a shock that was, going from the populated Bay Area to the small town of Reardan, population 400 back then!

We fell in love with that town and the people there too. They were all so good to us. Bill always worked harvest for some of his favorite farmers back in the day.

We had two children, Jayne and Adam, both born at the Lincoln Hospital in Davenport, where I eventually worked as a medical transcriptionist. Bill worked at Edwall Chemical in Reardan, and he got to know lots of the wheat farmers back then. It was a totally different lifestyle for us!

In 1989, we were both driving from Reardan to Spokane for our jobs, Bill at a big sawmill and me at Holy Family Hospital. We decided to move to Spokane Valley, as our daughter was just starting high school and the commute to and from Reardan to Spokane was getting more difficult in the winter months. We made the move, and both kids went to Ferris High School and loved it.

We loved being in Spokane, where we had everything we needed… the malls, the grocery stores, the best neighbors ever, and our jobs were here! Now we are retired and grandparents to our teenage grandsons, and we love being grandma and grandpa!

We will celebrate 54 years of marriage this coming June! Bill is my best friend, my confidant who has known me since age 13, and he definitely keeps me laughing all the time! We have had a good and happy life together … with lots of love and laughter sprinkled throughout, like a cherry on top!