Encounters

Long Distance Information came through for Kerri

When I was in high school back in 1980 I was crazy about the Beatles - some 16 years after they invaded America. Being a kid, I fantasized, had crazy ideas and thought I could make them come true. I started playing guitar with my best friend Lori. So, we came up with this idea to appear on The Jerry Lewis telethon with Julian and Zak Starkey as a band. Like they would need us? What naive teens we were.

After John was tragically killed, I saw a photo of Cynthia and Julian in The Daily News. It said Cyn's new last name was Twist and she lived in Ruthin, Wales. I called information and got the phone number of Cynthia, so I could call Julian.

Lori and I could not call Wales from our homes. So, we asked almost every student in our high school to borrow a dime or nickel to make a $13 person to person call from a payphone in New Jersey/USA to Wales. We scripted out the entire conversation to say to Cynthia. We got Cynthia on the phone and the money would not go into the pay phone. She was so nice to us and told us where we could reach her that night in London.

We called her back and there must have been a party going on because we remember she said to the people in the background "Shh, America is on the phone". We told her what we wanted to do. We also told her that we wanted to call our group "A Twist of Lennon", which was the name of her book. The publisher granted us permission. She was unaware of that. She was so gracious. She gave us his mailing address.

I am in my 30's now and I will never forget speaking with Cynthia and how nice she was. She is truly a class act.

Kerri Parrott

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