‘Surprise party’ match that was made in college

Edwin Strickland showed up to a surprise birthday party a childhood friend was hosting for her roommate. The surprise was on him — his friend masterminded a matchmaking.

Edwin was a student at the University of Central Arkansas at Conway in February 1994. His friend, a student at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, invited Edwin and his buddies to the party when he told her they would be in town for the weekend.

It was the night before Re Shandra “Shun” Dennis’ 22nd birthday.

“I thought he was cute when I saw him, but I also thought that he was interested in my roommate,” Shun says. “She was talking to another guy the whole night, so I was confused. I was like, ‘Wait, you invite this guy over here to come and see you, and then you don’t actually talk to him tonight?’”

Edwin was leaving and his friend was walking him out when Shun grabbed her arm.

“I said, ‘Why did you treat him like that?’ and she was like, ‘It’s not like that. He doesn’t like me. I don’t like him. We grew up together,’ and then she went outside,” Shun says.

Outside, she told Edwin that her friend Shun was upset because she liked him and he barely talked to her.

“I said, ‘Well, I’m sorry. I said, here’s my phone number. If she wants to talk, tell her to just give me a call then,’” Edwin says. “She went back inside and said to Shun, ‘Hey, my friend was really shy, but he likes you. Here’s his number. Give him a call.’”

Shun got his answering machine when she called — and there was a woman’s voice on the recording. She checked with her friend to make sure he wasn’t in a relationship. Her friend assured her it was Edwin’s cousin’s voice on the recording.

“They had all grown up together,” Shun explains.

Edwin called her back and they talked for hours. She had wanted to go to Spelman College in Atlanta and he had wanted to go to Morehouse College in Atlanta, they discovered.

“I got a piano scholarship to UCA and came to UA,” Shun says. “He got a track scholarship to UA but went to UCA. And this friend, her family used to have a company picnic and for like three years, one of us got there right after the other one left. So it was like all these moments where we almost met … and then we did.”

Their first date was a fraternity party at the skating rink in Conway. She had friends in Conway, and she hung out with them while he helped with selling tickets, but she and Edwin left quickly when a fight broke out at the event.

They went to Hardee’s, and Edwin told Shun to order whatever she wanted.

“Then he said he forgot his wallet,” she says.

The next night they went to dinner at a nice restaurant.

“I only ordered what I could afford,” she quips. “I think I got a salad and a dessert.”

Edwin had his wallet that night, though, and he paid for her small meal.

They visited each other every weekend after that and talked on the phone every day during the week.

In May, Edwin asked Shun, hypothetically, what she might say if he asked her to marry him.

“I hate rejection,” he says. “She said, ‘Hypothetically, if you had a nice ring, I would probably say yes.’ So about a week later, she was coming down to college to see me and I gave her a ring and asked if she would marry me.”

They were planning to marry the next year. His aunt, however, urged them to move the date up.

“My aunt was like, ‘If you love each other just get married. Why wait?’” Edwin says.

They were married on Aug. 20, 1994, at Jerusalem Baptist Church in Fordyce.

“It was six months and 13 days from the time we met until we got married,” Edwin says.

He transferred to UA, and they both finished their undergraduate degrees there. Shun went on to the University of Arkansas School of Law. Edwin worked in education for many years and is now a pastor. Shun is a mindset coach. They pastor a church, Fellowship of Champions, in Springdale.

Edwin and Shun have five children — Taylor, 25, of Atlanta; Chase, 20, and Caleb,18, both of whom are enrolled in colleges in Atlanta but are home in Springdale now because of the pandemic; Jordan, 16, and Canaan, 14, both of Springdale.

Their whirlwind courtship has led to a constantly evolving relationship.

“We got married at 22 and we’re 49 now. We’re very different now than we were, just in how we see the world and everything else. We jokingly call this our fourth marriage,” Edwin says.

They are content to change together, adapting to each other’s needs as time goes by.

“Our marriage is like with Apple updates,” Shun says. “You roll it out, you see the kinks and then you roll it out again.”

(Special to the Democrat-Gazette) Edwin Strickland and Shun Dennis of Springdale were married on Aug. 20, 1994. They celebrated their anniversary last year with cake and confetti at home. “It was cool because our kids, except for Taylor, were home and they got to see it,” Shun says. “I think that was good for them.”

(Special to the Democrat-Gazette) Edwin and Shun Strickland were set up by a friend who told each of them the other was interested. “We were already married when we found out what she did,” Edwin says with a chuckle. “It’s because of her that we’re together.”