Jay Peery

After graduation, I went to Va. Western for a semester or two,and quit to work full time for the Kroger Co.,and to get married.I married fellow class of 78 member Lisa McCarty. We were married for 18 years,and had three sons; John,James,and Jordan Peery. During that time I got to pursue my life passion racing stock cars.On a small level I raced at Franklin County Speedway, winning 24 races,and 2 championships in the pure stock division.It was the most fun I ever had in my life,except for playing football at CSHS! Lisa and I divorced in 1997 [ my fault ] and I remarried in 1998. I married another Cave Spring gal, Lois Light,class of 1979. We dated in school,and found each other again. I have two step children with her;Jennifer,and Paul Craighead. I still work for Kroger,as a meat department manager. I have 30 years in now. Never left, I just love Roanoke!

As most of you know I played football. A funny story I remember is that one day during two a day practices I got dehydrated from the heat and got sick. Coach Hammes told me to go to the locker room,and cool off. On the way from the practice field I passed out and fell into a ditch between the field and the school. Nobody saw this! After practice everybody headed to the locker room,and of course they found me in the ditch. Hammes helped me up,and said " damned boy youll do anything to get out of practice!" Another memory I have is during practice one day, I was helping the second string O against the first string defense. I kinda made them look bad a couple of times. I took a screen pass and just as I caught the ball Greg Roush knocked the ever living dog crap out of me! He just stood there and grinning and it just made me furious! I threw the ball at him,and screamed at him " damit Roush, Im on your side! The coaches were just rolling! Hammes yelled'' thats a good hit to finish practice on!" Greg helped me up,and by then I was laughing too!
After football season,around Christmas time, my best friend,my father passed away. At the funeral, my mom told me to turn around during the service and to my surprise the football team was there! To this day I love those teammates for being there for me. They were more than team mates, they were Cave Spring Knights, my brothers!