Oklahoma man proclaims love for wife with billboards
The eight electric billboards across Tulsa, Okla., were cryptic. “Amy, I love you more!” the signs read, above a logo for the Living Water Irrigation company.
The signs became a curiosity over the weeks, as they didn’t say who Amy is or why someone was proclaiming love for her. People started speculating that whoever bought the billboards might be in the doghouse, looking for forgiveness from Amy.
Now, almost six weeks after he put up the billboards, Josh Wilson, 41, is laughing about all of the attention the billboards have gotten since he decided to post the gigantic love notes to his wife, Amy Wilson, 51.
“A lot of people wondered if I was in trouble with Amy, but the truth is, I just adore her,” said Josh Wilson, who runs the Living Water Irrigation sprinkler company with his wife of three years.
Wilson took the unusual step of declaring his love for Amy to everyone in Tulsa when he learned in August that he couldn’t cancel a oneyear, Us$1,200-a-month billboard campaign he’d taken out in January for their business. The billboards weren’t helping to gain new customers.
“I wasn’t getting the response that I expected with the ads,” he said. “But I was told that I was contractually obligated until Jan. 1 and couldn’t get my money back.”
When Wilson’s business coach, Clay Clark, heard about his friend’s dilemma, he proposed a solution:
“Since you’re always talking about how much you love your wife, why don’t you just say something to her on the billboards?” Clark said. “You might as well turn it into a positive.”
Wilson thought it was a swell idea.
Amy Wilson, however, didn’t see the signs until they’d been up for a couple of weeks.
“I got busy with work and actually heard about all of this when a local news station did a story,” she said.
Although Amy Wilson was delighted by her husband’s messages of love in the fast lane, she said she now believes it’s time to replace “I Love You More!” with something else. Reluctantly, Josh agreed.
“We’re going to put up a photo of our five dogs,” said Josh Wilson. “We both think it’s perfect. I love them madly, too.”