John Ferguson
Jerry Persons was my best friend from seventh grade (when we met) until 1965 when we graduated from Oregon State and went separate ways. He was a groomsman at my wedding in 1967; he lost a coin flip or else he would have been best man.
Jerry gave some people the impression that he was quiet, but he spoke enough for me. He was intelligent, and always enthusiastic, polite, and honest. He and I hit it off well because we were both super competitive, and we enjoyed competing with each other.
Many of my fondest memories of Jerry involve sports. In the summer of 1964 Jerry and I were playing golf, and I hit what had to be the longest tee shot of my life, straight and down the middle of the fairway. I mentioned to Jerry that I had just made the longest golf hit of my life. Jerry's response: "I'll bet I can hit my ball farther than yours." I said: "Jerry, didn't you hear me? That has to be the longest I have ever hit a golf ball in my entire life!" Jerry repeated that he thought he could out-drive me. So I said: "Jerry, if you hit your ball past mine, I'll buy you dinner tonight." He responded: "OK, and if your shot is longer, I'll buy you dinner." Then he teed up his ball, wiggled his butt, and hit a shot identical to mine. Then we started walking. In the distance we could see one ball, but only one. When we got to it, we discovered that it was mine; Jerry's ball was nowhere in sight. We figured that probably some kid had run off with Jerry's ball, so we called our dinner bet a tie; and we both hit our second shots, Jerry hitting from the same spot as me. Then we resumed walking. After about 50 yards, we came across Jerry's tee shot in the middle of the fairway! He not only out-drove me, but he did it by such a huge distance that we could not see his ball from where we found mine! I enjoyed buying him a steak dinner that evening.