LITTLE ROCK — Susan Fruits had the perfect opportunity to ask Jack O'Keefe all about himself the first time they met.
It was 1995, and she was the morning anchor at the ABC affiliate in Bowling Green, Ky. Jack, a professional golfer, was a guest on her show, there to promote the NGA Hooters Tour.
"My first impression of Jack was wow - what a nice guy. Genuinely nice," Susan says. "He was as transparent and honest as they come."
Jack had seen Susan on television the morning before the show.
"She's a pretty girl," he said, although he didn't set his sights on her right away. "You just assume that someone like her is already taken."
Jack, who was based in Little Rock but lived out of a suitcase most of the time, was scheduled to be in Bowling Green for just six days.
Jack and Susan, who were both 25, had a chance to get better acquainted that night at a charity event.
"After getting to know her more by talking with her, I realized she is equally as beautiful on the inside, too," Jack says. "I could tell Susan was motivated and driven just by talking with her."
Susan's good impression of Jack deepened, too.
"When I talked - and I like to talk - he seemed truly interested in listening to what I had to say," she says. "As I got to know him better, I realized he listened to everyone who talked. He was never in a hurry to finish a conversation and he was the real deal."
Susan told Jack that Tuesday night that she would like to showhim around while he was in town, but conflicting schedules made it impossible for them to get together before Friday.
She bought the tickets for the movie they saw, and he sprang for the popcorn and drinks.
"I was sitting there thinking, why did I get a large popcorn," Jack says. "I thought, well, I'll eat a lot of it, but she probably won't eat much and I can't eat all of this."
Susan, however, has a weakness for movie theater popcorn.
"I scarfed it down," she laughs.
"I thought she was going to bite my hand off," Jack jokes.
The evening was fun and relaxed, and the next morning, Susan watched Jack play in the tournament.
On Saturday night, she made dinner for him.
"Being on the road all the time, a home-cooked meal was like gold to me," he says.
Susan showed up Sunday morning to watch him play golf one more time before he left town.
"We were just hanging out," Susan says. "I don't think either one of us were thinking, 'Oh, we're going to get married.' I actually wondered if I would ever see him again."
Jack sent Susan flowers on Monday, and after that they kept in touch and got together occasionally wherever Jack was playing.
By Christmas 1997, Susan had moved to Louisville. She was sad about having to work on Christmas Eve instead of being with her family. Jack was there, though, and he told her he had a surprise.
"I told him I didn't want a surprise," she says. She thought his surprise was probably something along the lines of dinnerat a restaurant. "I didn't want to go out and eat Christmas dinner - I wanted to be with my family."
But as they watched Seinfeld together in an oversize stuffed chair, Jack muted the set and got down on one knee.
They were married on Aug. 21, 1998, in an outdoor wedding at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary.
"It was every little girl's dream wedding," says Susan, who wore her late mother's wedding gown for the ceremony.
Their week-long honeymoon in St. Lucia marked the first time they had spent as many consecutive days together.
The O'Keefes moved to Hot Springs in 2003. They now live in Conway with their four children - Lucy, 8; John Freeman, 6; Henry 2, and Hogan, 1.
A crew of videographers fromthe television station where Susan worked flew over in a helicopter to film their wedding. Susan and Jack have that footage as well as that of the interview that brought them together.
If you have an interesting how-we-met story or know someone who does, please call (501) 378-3496 or e-mail:
cjenkins@arkansasonline.comAt the end of our first date I thought:Susan says: "I wonder if I'll every see this guy again! He was
a professional athlete with a calendar full of tee times across
the country and around the world. When would he ever come
back to south central Kentucky?" Jack says: "Well, I wondered if she was full from all the
popcorn she ate at the movie. I also hoped that I would see
her again because we had a nice time and talked late into the
evening. I also knew that she was busy with her job and me
with mine but it would be worth it to see her again. I knew there
was something special about her when we first met."
High Profile, Pages 41 on 08/30/2009