Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Romance in the air
Local couples share their love stories.
To this exceedingly romantic girl, growing up in small-town Kansas, love was defined by one movie — Franco Zeffirelli’s “Romeo and Juliet” — and one television show, “Dark Shadows.”
Romeo: If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
Juliet: Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch, And palm to palm is holy palmer’s kiss.
Barnabas Collins: You had me locked in a box for over 200 years.
Angelique: Don’t exaggerate! It was only 196.
Love, then, is clearly in the eye — and the mixed-up mind — of the beholder. So for this Valentine’s Day, Our Town asked local couples to tell their love stories — some sweet, some funny, some truly romantic, and all worth celebrating.
Sam Keen: “You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly.”
Keith & Beth Grimwood West Fork
We met many times before we knew each other because Beth worked at places where Keith played.
One New Year’s
Eve, after a Trout show in Houston, we were both
“idle” at the same time, in the same place. Stories were swapped, resumes were exchanged, and we never looked back.
Beth: I knew he was the one for me when on a camping trip, the frying pan we used got very nasty. Instead of trying to clean it by rubbing sand on it or rinsing it in the lake, Keith buried it. I was his forever!
Keith: I think I knew it all along. As unlikely as the pairing seemed at the time, I had an uncomfortable premonition that she would be around for a really long time!
Michael & Joanna Bell Fayetteville
We met on a dating website back in 2010. Our relationship is literally the best thing that we’ve ever ordered from the internet. Our unsolicited advice for online dating success, dear readers… say ‘yes’ (no matter what you think of the photos) and meet in person as soon as possible. Bonus points if you can keep the stakes low and also find some live music you like for date one (we did).
We both knew by date two or three that this was a promising match. When we realized were able to talk easily about marriage, kids, and student loan debt, that made it a keeper. We’re so romantic. We got engaged on Michael’s grandparents’ 65th wedding anniversary, and we totally plan to best their record.
Oddly, we’re a couple of theater folk who don’t believe life has a script. The most romantic part of the day is when we sit down after work and tell each other what we learned that day. Also, we’ve got two amazing tiny people who live with us, and make the future look pretty brilliant, indeed. It turns out that life is a pretty sweeping and heart swelling thing, and we feel lucky to share it.
Kent & Diana Eikenberry Rogers
We met at Kansas State Farm Bureau Citizenship Seminar the summer of 1971, before Kent’s senior year in high school and Diana’s junior year. Technically we met in the mid-1960s when our sisters were in high school together before Kent and his family moved to western Kansas, but Diana doesn’t remember that. But Kent used that tidbit of information to start the conversation when we first met. It took some time to convince her he wasn’t making it up. We lived on the opposite sides of the state so we had a long distance romance mostly consisting of letters and a few phone calls.
We lead a pretty simple life. We do lots of things together. We enjoy golfing, spending time with our sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren. While we don’t always agree on the genre, we enjoy movies. We volunteer together, we spend time in the kitchen together. I guess what we are saying is romance means being with each other.
Jason & Brenda Nemec Rogers
Brenda: Jason and I met backstage in 2005 during The Sound of Music. Rogers Little Theater, now known as Arkansas Public Theatre, was doing their summer musicals at Rogers High School at that time. I was the stage manager, and Ed McClure had asked Jason to come and help me backstage. I had the prop tables all set up and labeled and was very protective of my space.
Jason came in and said that he was admiring the neatness and organization of the prop tables, but he was really touching and picking up the props! My very first words to him were “Don’t touch my stuff!”
After he told me who he was and why he was there all was good and he was actually allowed to touch the props! That was our first meeting, but we were both dating other people at the time, so our relationship was strictly professional. We didn’t even cross paths again until the fall of 2006 when he auditioned for 12 Angry Men. We started communicating at that time and started dating later that year. At what moment did you know he/she was THE one?
Jason: Does any life really follow a script? I will say I feel we were meant to find each other, and multiple things fell into place for that to happen. My divorce, Brenda moving to Northwest Arkansas, both of us being involved with the theater, our current relationships getting rocky about the same time, love of reading, people watching, laughing at similar things, enjoying our together time, etc. We have both been married before and had grown children so we took our time to get to know each other.
Brenda: We just enjoy being with each other. One of our favorite things is just being at home watching TV and petting our dogs!
Ezra & Karen Idlet West Fork
Karen: We met at a bar in Lubbock, Texas. Ezra’s band, St. Elmo’s Fire, was playing at a club called Fat Dogs. There was heavy flirting and eye contact between us the first night, but we never got to talk. The next night the band played the same club, and we did get to talk. We went out for breakfast after the gig.
Romance has changed over the years. Early on it was sailing on our catamaran and dreaming of crossing oceans together. These days it’s working on our house, planting gardens and sitting together on the porch at sunset after a big day. We watch the sun go down and listen to the woods come alive with the sounds of the night.
Rhonda Dillard & Kim McCubbin Fayetteville
Kim was living in Tulsa and after weeks of texting and a few phone conversations, she came to Northwest Arkansas for our first date, Rhonda says.
We dated long distance for a couple of years, and Kim proposed on our fifth “dating” anniversary.
We were married one year later, on May 5, 2016.
On one of my semi-weekly trips to Tulsa, I realized she was the one as I pulled in her Broken Arrow driveway, and she came to the car to greet me. I don’t know why but at that moment I knew.
Zeek Taylor & Dick Titus Eureka Springs
Zeek: In 1971 we were introduced by a mutual friend at the Psych Out Bar in Memphis, Tenn. The friend was romantically interested in me, and he wanted to know what Dick thought of me. Dick thought enough of me that he stepped in and became my No. 1 suitor.
Dick: It was love at first sight.
Zeek: I was a little more cautious, and more guarded with my feelings. I had been disappointed in previous relationships, and I was not about to jump into another one too quickly. It was several weeks later when I realized that his intentions were honorable and sincere. I then let myself fall in love with him. After being together for 47 years, romance is far different than it was when we were young. It is less intense. It is more gentle. It is comfortable. We still give each other cards and baby talk to each other. Love is still in the air.
Toni & Michael Lindsey Farmington
Toni: I was traveling back from a conference with only a few days at home before I had to turn around and leave again. My flight was delayed, and I wasn’t going to get home in time to pick up my hounds — which would mean I’d be without them for nearly two weeks straight! Michael knew how important they are to me, so he offered to pick them up for me. It was early on in our relationship, and honestly the dogs can be a bit of a handful, so I didn’t want to ask him to do that. But he insisted. When I got home, he was waiting on me with flowers, Bernie and Sugar, and even had treats for them. I knew I couldn’t spend my life without him!
Michael: We both travel a lot for work, and after a few multi-hour phone calls, it became obvious to me that this was someone I wanted to have in my life forever.
Toni: I got to marry my best friend; I have two smart and beautiful bonus daughters; I have a perfect little baby boy; I have two cute beagle hounds; I have a career I love. Life may not have followed a script, but I firmly believe that things happen for a reason and in God’s timing. I couldn’t be happier!
Martin Miller & Lisa Margulis Fayetteville
Martin: The first few times we met, it was just people meeting. But things changed, and we ended up at the opening night of The 39 Steps — her with one less husband than she’d previously had, and me still bumbling through things unattached — and it’s been a wonderful adventure ever since.
Lisa: It was easy to meet because our friends kept telling us not to date each other. OK, I mean it’s hard to process “kind fantastic guy who cooks” when you haven’t met one before.
Martin: If this were a script, people would walk out saying it didn’t seem terribly realistic.
Lisa: There’s constantly flowers showing up in my hotel rooms for work travel — that’s not romantic, that’s just Martin. But when he asked my then 5- and 4-year-old sons if he could marry me, complete with tiny rings, and they said yes? That’s romantic.