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JOHNSON LAKE - Jerry and Terri Wylie taught the world.

Now, while Terri teaches eighth grade in Lexington's Public Schools, Jerry is enjoying time at their home at Johnson Lake looking for their next adventure.

Those adventures include teaching at a private school in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the outbreak of the Gulf War in 1991 when all civilians were ordered to leave.

Saudi Arabian officials were certain their capital city would be bombed by the Iraqis.

Terri and their daughter, Kristina, boarded a flight out, but Jerry stayed behind with students who couldn't leave.

"We had confidence that Iraq's Scud missiles could be stopped," Jerry recalls. Others who remained behind went on rooftops to witness the Iraqis' futile efforts. They watched as many of the Scud missiles were knocked out of the skies.

The war lasted about 100 days.

That was not the first foreign teaching post for the Wylies.

They taught at Stavanger, on the southwest coast of Norway, for four years. That was the first chapter of their life overseas.

"In the winter, we had four hours of daylight," Jerry says. "In the summer, it was reversed with four hours of darkness."

Kristina was born in Stavanger.

They rented the ground floor of the home of an elderly woman who had strict rules about her building, including no children.

When the Wylies said they would have to move because they were expecting their first born, the woman protested vehemently.

She told the Wylies they could remain and cared for Kristina like a grandmother while Jerry and Terri were teaching.

Jerry and Terri grew up together in Holdrege and dated when they were in the fifth grade. Jerry had moved with his mother from Russell, Kan.

Both graduated from Kearney State Teachers College.

The years have passed since they taught abroad. Terri is in her eighth year at Lexington schools.

Jerry taught at Cozad for three years. "I don't sit still too well," he said.

He was contracted to evaluate the Head Start day care program, but is now on a sabbatical from teaching.

He enjoys teaching, particularly the elementary grades.

"Their curiosity is fresh, and they're easy to teach. I don't talk down to them. I treat them as equals."

The Wylies' have packed their home with the souvenirs and works of art they collected from places they visited during their years overseas. Each article, small or large, carries with it a story.

Holidays and vacation time gave them time to visit exotic places in Asia and the Middle East.

A large map of the world adorns a wall of Jerry and Terri's home, with photographs and stickpins representing places they've been.

Jerry attributes much of his success in life to his grandmother, Corinne Hoskins. At 96, she is in assisted living in Grand Island.

"She told me, 'Jerry, at the end of the day, look back and see if it was worth giving up a day of your life for.' She was always pushing me up.

"I've met a lot of people in my life, but no one like her."

e-mail to:

betsy.friedrich@kearneyhub.com