LITTLE ROCK — At just 10 years old, Kathy Bryant was captivated by the boy she saw sprawled on the living room floor with a book when she and her father stopped by to see his family.
"He doesn't remember a thing about it, but I do," she says of Milton Piper, who is a year older than she.
Kathy's father was a Methodist lay minister and Sunday School teacher, and in the spring of 1951, the Pipers had just visited their church, Levy Methodist Church in North Little Rock.
"The kids were sitting on the floor reading and playing and I just remember looking over at Milton," Kathy says. "He's really dark-[complexioned] and I'm an Irish - very fair. This little dark-complected kid with long dark hair just intrigued me immediately."
Kathy started spending time with Milton's sister. Milton almost always played with them - climbing trees, having water fights and playing house. In thelatter game, Milton's sister always played his wife.
"I was always the little kid," Kathy says, "and as time went on I didn't like that arrangement."
Their families were close.
"If I got out of line, his mom and dad would put me right back," she says. "And my mom and dad put Milton in line, too, especially as we grew older and as teenagers, when Milton could drive.
"All of a sudden I realized that this person meant more to me than just a friend. He's always been my best friend," she says. "It really kind of smacked me in the head and it took me a while to resolve and understand that there was a lot more going on than I had thought."
During the one year they went to the same high school, they saw each other as often as possible.
"I could fly from my homeroom on the fourth floor to hers on the second floor," he says. "Icould go down two floors, walk her to class and still be in my class in the basement for the first period, all within about eight to nine minutes."
Milton liked Kathy all along, but it was as he headed off to the Army that he realized how much.
"It was the first time off on my own," he says. "And that's when I bought the engagement ring, while she was still in high school."
They were engaged for about a year, but just before Kathy's senior year in high school they had a disagreement and Kathy broke the engagement and Milton locked her ring away in the glove compartment of his car. It took months for them to work things out, but the night before Kathy's graduation, he pried open the jammed glove compartment door and gave the ring back.
"I was just thrilled," she says. "I couldn't get married fast enough."
They were married on Aug. 21, 1959, at Levy Methodist Church, when Kathy was 18 and Milton was 19.
"It was a big family affair," Kathy says. "Everyone was in the wedding."
Kathy made by hand all the buttons for the formal wedding gown her grandmother sewed for the ceremony.
The Pipers lived in North Little Rock until the 1970s, when they moved to Tuckerman and later Monticello. They returned to North Little Rock in the 1990s after their son, Tommy Piper of North Little Rock, graduated from high school. They have one grandchild, Logan Piper, also of North Little Rock.
Kathy has worked for many years as a church organist, choir director, and voice, organ and piano teacher. Milton started his career as a tool and machine designer and now renovates and restores old buildings.
"She said she fell in love with my tan, my dark hair and my brown eyes," Milton says. "After high school I went in the Army- they cut off all my hair, I lost my tan and years later my eyes changed colors. But she decided to keep me anyway."
Kathy says friendship has sustained them through the rough times.
"As well as our love," she says. "There's never been a doubt between us that we love each other quite a lot." If you have an interesting how-we-met story or know someone who does, please call (501) 378-3496 or e-mail:
cjenkins@arkansasonline.comWhen I first met my in-laws She says: They were like a mama and daddy to me. I helped
his mother wash many a dish and fold many clothes.
He says: Our families were basically integrated from the
beginning.
My advice for a long happy marriage She says: Have humor and kindness and compassion for
each other. We didn't have a dishwasher when we first got mar
ried and we would talk over our problems while we washed and
dried dishes. Now that we have a dishwasher, we get in the car
when we need to talk.
He says: And sometimes we get in the same car. And you
also sometimes just have to know when to be quiet.
High Profile, Pages 37 on 08/23/2009