Terri Smith graduated from Herrin High School in 1987. Kent Smith graduated in 1983. They didn't know each other.

They met years later when Kent was auctioned off for a date to benefit Easter Seals — and Terri placed the winning bid. She paid $215. They married in 1993. Their paths to that moment, and everything that's followed, tell two distinct stories that come together into one.

Kent left Herrin for Baylor University in Waco, Texas — chosen because he wanted a top-20 business school and didn't love cold weather. He graduated with his business administration degree, went straight through Baylor's MBA program, and came out of it in late 1988 with plans to trade stocks in New York City with AG Edwards.

An old professor slowed him down with a simple question: Why are you doing that? You've studied finance, management, marketing — why go work for someone else?

Kent came home instead and took over the family lumber business his grandfather had started in 1946. His parents ran it through about 1992 before stepping back as consultants. He reinvested and started building. The lumber business is still the primary business — the business card reads lumberyard — but it has long since expanded into real estate development, rental properties, commercial projects, and banking. Today, Kent is chairman of the board at Bank of Herrin, which now holds roughly $390 million in assets, makes loans in 40 states, and operates a division in Scottsdale, Arizona.

"The business community," Kent said, describing what Herrin gave him. "The mentors who helped me learn business tactics and ethics. That was major for me growing up."

Terri's path was different.

After Herrin, she went to John A. Logan College and trained as a dental assistant. Several dentists' offices later, she developed a severe latex allergy — at a time when latex was the only glove available. Career pivot required.

She landed in the office of Dr. David Mann, an ear, nose, and throat physician who saw many children with special needs. Something clicked. She went back to school — associate's degree, then SIU — and graduated around 1999 as a special education teacher. Her first position was at a tiny school in Cypress, Illinois, near Buncombe, that had recently been destroyed by a tornado. Students attended classes in mobile buildings while the community rebuilt.

"I loved it," she said. "The school had about 80 students. I knew every one of them."

The commute was nearly an hour each way. She did it for two years. When Williamson County Special Education offered her a position housed at Herrin High School, she took it. She stayed 21 years before retiring.

Herrin Education Foundation — and the civic work that connects to it — has been one of Kent's ongoing commitments since he returned. "We've been able to provide several million dollars in scholarships to trade schools and universities," he said. "We were one of the first in lower southern Illinois to start that." He's also been involved with the Chamber of Commerce since 1990 and, through the Bank of Herrin, with the Harrison Bruce Foundation, which supports everything from police equipment to community sports programs across several Southern Illinois communities.

Their daughter, Cecily, attended Baylor for undergrad, earned her MBA from the University of South Florida, and came back to Herrin to handle marketing for the family businesses. Their son Elliott is currently at the University of Arkansas. And there's a third young man, Brandon Switzer — no biological connection — whom they've helped raise since he was about 15 months old. He's 33 now, starting his own family.

Cecily has also picked up something else from her parents. Terri coached Herrin High School's flag team for years. Her niece took over. Cecily joined her co-coach, and together they have led the team to multiple state championships. The program now runs community outreach — bringing young children to interact with the high school athletes — carrying forward exactly the kind of thing both Terri and Kent remember most about growing up here.

"We always had a pack of kids that stayed friends from kindergarten all the way through high school," Terri said. "And I'm happy to say my kids are the same way."

All she has to do is look out at the backyard, the barn, or the pool.