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She fell in love with her dream man at church

On Aug. 9, 1986, the day Donna Roetzel married Barry Humphries, Donna says, she felt like she won the jackpot. His dad, Barry’s best man, told him it was the last wedding of his he’d attend.
On Aug. 9, 1986, the day Donna Roetzel married Barry Humphries, Donna says, she felt like she won the jackpot. His dad, Barry’s best man, told him it was the last wedding of his he’d attend.

Donna Roetzel had called a moratorium on dating after a series of bad relationships, including a divorce. Then visions of matrimony danced in her head.

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Donna and Barry Humphries perform on stage together, Barry impersonating Elvis, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, Willie Nelson and Dean Martin and Donna as Patsy Cline and June Carter Cash.

"I had just given up," she says. "I prayed about it. I said, 'You know, Lord, I'm just going to give it to you.' And then I had this very vivid dream."

The first time I saw my future spouse

She says: “It was like someone had hit me over the head with a two-by-four. My head was spinning.”

He says: “I felt a chemistry immediately, as soon as my eyes met her big blue eyes. I had never had that sensation about someone I hadn’t met before.”

On our wedding day

She says: “It was a dream come true. I felt like I had won the jackpot.”

He says: “My dad said this was the last wedding of mine he was going to attend. He was my best man.”

My advice for a lasting marriage is

She says: “Be best friends. He’s definitely my best friend. Communication is a huge thing — I don’t always do it correctly — but I think telling each other what you need and what you want is really important.”

He says: “Have common interests and do things together but also be independent some, too. You need to do things separately, also.”

In her dream, she saw a tall man with dark hair and a mustache.

"And in the dream we were getting married," Donna says. "I joked with my mom the next morning that I knew what my future husband looked like, but I didn't know him."

The following Sunday, April 27, 1986, Donna sat in the floor of her Sunday School class at First Church of the Nazarene in North Little Rock, writing scripture on a chart tablet for her Sunday School teacher, Magola Scott.

Magola had told her about a guy, Barry Humphries, who had stopped attending church after marrying young and about the many calls she had made and postcards she had sent in an attempt to bring him back into the church fold after learning his wife had left him.

She had even tried to convince Donna to call Barry.

"I said, 'Magola, I'm not going to call that man,'" Donna says. "Back in the '80s, girls didn't call guys -- they still waited for the guys to call them. I wasn't going to call this guy. Why would I? I knew of his name but I did not know him. I had never seen him before."

Barry chose that Sunday to return to church.

"I heard Magola scream, 'Barry! You came!' I looked up and when I saw him I thought, 'That's him! That's him! That's the guy from my dream!' My insides just started churning," Donna says.

She sat on the other side of the room but couldn't stop looking at him.

When class was over, they headed in the same direction to pick up their sons from their Sunday School class. Donna's son, Jason, was 5; Barry's son, Jared, was 4, and they were in the same group.

They sat together at church that night and after the service he asked for her phone number.

"We spent the next two nights talking on the phone until 2 a.m. When he called Wednesday he told me he didn't want to talk on the phone, he wanted to see me," she says. "I was living with my parents, but I invited him over."

The next day, four days after they met, they got engaged.

"We were standing on the porch of my portable classroom building at Sylvan Hills Elementary," says Donna, who taught sixth grade that year. He stopped by to visit her on her lunch break and brought up the topic of marriage.

One proposed and the other accepted -- who did which is up for interpretation.

"He swears I proposed, but honestly, I remember the conversation being more of a mutual understanding that we were meant to be together forever," Donna says.

He was 26 and she was 25 when they exchanged their vows on Aug. 9, 1986, in the First Church of the Nazarene in North Little Rock.

Jason lives in Dahlonega, Ga., with his wife and three children. Jared lives in Little Rock. Donna and Barry also have a daughter, Holly Sherrill, who lives in Little Rock with her husband and son.

Barry retired this year from the Sherwood Police Department and from the 106th Army Band. Donna retired from the Pulaski County Special School District in 2012 and is now an adjunct psychology professor, a travel agent and an educational consultant.

They also perform on stage together -- Barry as Elvis, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, Willie Nelson and Dean Martin and Donna as Patsy Cline and June Carter Cash.

Barry found a niche performing as Elvis in the late '90s and later expanded his repertoire. Donna hadn't considered joining him on stage until he and their children returned early from a movie and heard her singing a Patsy Cline song downstairs.

"I didn't even know I could sing, but he worked with me and within a year I was singing in front of 25,000 people. We have performed in Las Vegas, Branson, and on numerous cruise ships around the world," she says. "We have fun together. I guess you could say we're living the dream."

If you have an interesting how-we-met story or if you know someone who does, please call (501)425-7228 or email

kdishongh@sbcglobal.net

High Profile on 06/26/2016

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