Some people have the thrill of finding their partner early. Here are a few neighbors who’ve had the love of a lifetime.
Tryna and Kevin met on a blind date on April 15, 1992, in Athens, Georgia. Kevin was working at the University of Georgia as a development officer and alumni relations professional while Tryna was working at the local hospital, Athens Regional Medical Center, as a management engineer.
“While we had a nice time on that first encounter — though, it wasn’t exactly ‘love at first sight,’” Tryna says.
“I liked Tryna a lot, but she was geographically undesirable and had just purchased a money pit,” Kevin says about their first date, referring to Tryna’s purchase of a historic home that was roughly 17 miles outside of the city.
Despite these apparent obstacles, that first blind date led to another, then another, and soon, a marriage proposal. They married in June 1993 at a tiny historic church in Lexington, Georgia, surrounded by family and friends; eventually, they settled in Dallas in 1997. The Knoxes are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year.
During their first week of school at Centenary College in Louisiana in 1975, Mary Jo had just “run down the hill” to complete pledging for Zeta Tau Alpha. She joined her new sorority sisters that night to meet new fraternity pledges down “Frat Row.”
The girls were set to stop at a few fraternity houses before Mary Jo’s date at the Kappa Sigma house at 8 p.m., but Mary Jo never made it. Instead, she met John Gardere at the first fraternity house she visited — Kappa Alpha.
The two hit it off instantly and later moved to Dallas where they married at Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church on June 13, 1981, and have lived in Dallas for the last 42 years.
Dawn and David Hall met during their first semester at Southern Methodist University. The pair dated throughout college and married at SMU’s Perkins Chapel the year after graduation. Last year, they celebrated 40 years with a surprise party hosted by their kids that included many of their friends from their SMU days.
“When we met on our first date, David made a toast to our first child. I am not making this up,” Dawn says. “That child, by the way, is now 36 years old. He claims the moment he met me, he knew I was the girl he had dreamed about when he was growing up in Jefferson City, Missouri. The rest, as they say, is history.
Over 60 years ago, 20-year-old Joe Nash was surprised by his little brother running through the front door, excitedly talking about how he must meet the pretty girl he’d seen on his way to the store. Joe put on his Sunday best and ran down to the store to introduce himself. That girl is now Herdercine Nash, his wife of 63 years. Now 83 and 85, the couple is still just as romantic as their love story.
“My parents still kiss every day. They hold hands all the time. Sometimes they put on their old vinyl records and dance in their pajamas to the oldies in the living room, to Sam Cooke’s ‘You Send Me’ and others. Sadly now, my dad is suffering with Alzheimer’s,” their daughter, Sharon Nash Alexander, says. “However, this has not stopped these lovebirds. My mom takes care of him. She has to shave him, cook for him and help him take his meds and shower. She says she married for better or worse, in sickness and in health.”
Meridith Manning describes her marriage as a fairy tale -— one filled with hot chocolate by the fire, coffee in bed on Sunday mornings and hidden conversations through nods across the room.
“We’ve now both hit (OK, surpassed) 50; our birthdays are three weeks apart, so we’ve spent our entire adult lives together,” Meridith says.
The pair got married on New Year’s Eve in 1996 and just celebrated 27 years together. Meridith and Jeff have survived many obstacles thrown their way — a cross-country move, two children, breast cancer and living apart from extended family.
“We’ve made it through with friendship, love, respect and lots of laughing,” she says. “Yes, marriage can be work, but when our kids say that they want to one day have a marriage like ours, it makes every second worth it.”
