Jerry Garrison didn't know until he went to pick up his blind date in summer 1966 that he had already seen her -- at a stoplight where he had tried mightily to get her attention just hours earlier.
Jerry had recently graduated from college and was gearing up to start law school at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, that fall. He had a summer job working for Joe Basore, a candidate for Arkansas lieutenant governor, and although he lived in Cherokee Village, he was spending time in Little Rock to work on the campaign.
The first time I saw your future spouse:
He says: “She was a knockout. I mean, just gorgeous.”
She says: “I fell in love at first sight.”
On our wedding day:
He says: “I was very, very grateful that she chose me.”
She says: “There was a sweet picture taken of my friend and me whispering in each other’s ears after she ran down the length of the church — outdoors — to get in line to be the maid of honor after she sang because she was my soloist, too.”
My advice for a lasting marriage is:
He says: “Respect each other’s place in life. Respect each other’s position.”
She says: “Don’t go to bed angry. And my husband traveled for 18 years, and I would go and meet him places while he was traveling. Remember that absence does make the heart grow fonder.”
"My friend and I were driving around town doing our campaign stuff. I saw this really pretty red-headed girl in a little car next to me, and I tried to move the car and honk and get her attention, and she wouldn't pay me any attention whatsoever," he says.
"I think she was just ignoring me. We were a couple of guys in an old painted up car. I think she just thought, 'I'm not paying any attention to that.'"
Not so, says that girl, Lenice Dean.
"I was oblivious to his presence," Lenice says. "I didn't see the campaign wagon or anything, and it did have campaign slogans all over it, so it's amazing that I did not see that. I must have been intent on getting through that stoplight."
The real surprise for him, of course, wasn't that she didn't see him. It was when she opened the door to her parents' home when he picked her up for their blind date that night.
Lenice had watched as Jerry and his friend approached -- one "tall, dark and handsome," and the other blond.
"I'd never been attracted to blonds, so in my mind ... I was thinking, 'Oh, I hope the tall, dark and handsome one is mine,'" she says.
He was.
He picked her up in the campaign wagon, slightly battered and plastered with campaign slogans, and she was mildly concerned someone would see her riding around in it. But they had a nice time and enjoyed each other's company. But Jerry was traveling around the state campaigning and didn't have much time to ponder the situation, let alone go on another date in Little Rock.
Two weeks later, the primaries rolled around. He saw her posting returns on a big board at the courthouse that night. They went out a couple of times before they both returned to UA -- she for her senior year at the university and he for his entry to law school. They were both dating other people and didn't make plans to connect once they got there.
"One day I was walking down the street by one of the student centers there and she came walking across the street," he says.
They went out a few more times, and Lenice went home to Little Rock for the Christmas break.
She called to invite Jerry to a party a couple of days before Christmas.
"I actually left Cherokee Village in a snowstorm with my mother hollering, 'You can't get out of the driveway! You can't get down the street!' And her last words as I drove off were, 'Well, bye,'" he says.
Jerry was staying in the guest room at Lenice's house that night, so after the party they sat around downstairs talking. Lenice told him her father was going to come down and tell them it was time to call it a night.
"He said, 'I have something to stop your father,'" she says. "I said, 'What is that?' and he said, 'I'll just ask him if I can marry his daughter.' I was shocked. We had just barely kissed. We hadn't talked about marriage or about children or anything."
Lenice said yes.
Her parents adored Jerry, but the custom in their social circle was for girls to go to Europe after they finished college, and her mother wanted her to stick to that plan. Lenice opted for a lifetime commitment.
They exchanged their vows on Aug. 26, 1967, at Pulaski Heights Baptist Church in Little Rock.
Jerry completed another year in law school before leaving to pursue his love of golf. He has toured the world for years as a professional golfer and manufacturer's representative and master club builder.
He and Lenice moved back to Little Rock in 1999. They have three children -- Amanda Gilmore of Little Rock, Deana Deary of Milwaukee and Carrie Garrison of Chicago. They also have two grandchildren.
Lenice can't say if anything might have been different if she had noticed him at the stoplight before they went out. But she can say this: "It was the best blind date I ever had."
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High Profile on 08/27/2017