Ann West sold a house in January 1999 to a woman whose brother swooped into town to help her move -- and then swept Ann off her feet.
Ann was working three jobs that January -- she had her own law practice, she worked at Dillard's one night a week and she sold real estate.
The first time I saw my future spouse:
She says: “I thought this really looks like an interesting guy. I was intrigued. And I went from not wanting to meet another man to being interested.”
He says: “I thought she was very beautiful. And I thought she was really smart — she’s a lawyer, so she’s a very bright person besides being beautiful.”
On our wedding day:
She says: “I thought, this is going to be a great adventure. My favorite wedding was on the cruise.”
He says: “I wore a tuxedo when we got married on the ship, and Ann wore a really nice gown.”
My advice for a long happy marriage is:
She says: “I think it’s really important to listen, not just to what’s being said but to what’s not being said as well. It’s really important to respect your partner. It’s really important to be patient. And sometimes keep your mouth shut and your thoughts to yourself.”
He says: “Before you try and say something stupid, think about it.”
"I did not want to meet another man," she says. "I did not want to go on another date. I was very angry with men. I was very disappointed with men. I had had a terrible divorce after a 36-year marriage and then when I finally remarried, my husband committed suicide seven days after we were married."
One of her real estate clients insisted she meet her older brother, Rod Cottrell.
"It was Christmastime and she had sold her own house and had to move out and there were really no properties available at Christmas. I just happened to know of one that might go on the market, so I think God was looking out for me all the way around," Ann says. "She said, 'When my oldest brother comes to town you've just got to meet him.' Being a polite person, I said, 'Of course.' But I didn't mean it in my heart."
At his sister's urging, Rod called Ann. She told him she was busy, but he tried again before he left town.
"I thought, 'Oh, shoot. I'm going to meet this man and just get this over with,'" she says. "So we met at The Afterthought for a drink -- and he was totally wonderful and charming. He was a geophysicist and all my life I have loved rocks and collected rocks. He had antiques and I had antiques. He was such a gentleman. It got to be really late and it seemed like just a minute and for the first time in a very long time I was laughing and I felt happy."
She invited him over for breakfast the next morning before he left to go back to Houston.
"Every time he came back to Little Rock we would see each other and so the relationship became really pretty serious pretty quickly," she says.
They dated for a couple of years before they decided to get married.
Rod heard that a local radio station was sponsoring a Mediterranean cruise.
"He listened for weeks and he kept saying, 'Ann, this is a really good deal. They're going to go to these ports, this is affordable, this is a great cruise line ... and I was always putting on my makeup and getting ready for work and I would say, 'Uh huh, uh huh,'" Ann says. "And then one day I came home and I felt like a square lawyer in square underwear and I really wanted to do something, so I said, 'Let's go.'"
They didn't know anyone on board before the ship left the dock, but they met other Arkansans during the cruise.
On Sept. 3, 2001, Ann and Rod exchanged marriage vows in a ceremony officiated by the ship's captain outside the port of Portofino.
"The people from Arkansas came and I had flowers in my hair," Ann says. "It was so much fun and what made it even more fun was that it wasn't legal."
That's why they were married again on Oct. 6, 2001, at First United Methodist Church in Little Rock, with friends and family looking on.
"We celebrate both," Ann says.
Even after they were married, though, they maintained separate residences.
"Everything about us is unusual," Ann says. "We live seven or eight hours apart. He lives in The Woodlands, [Texas], I live here; he's a Republican, I'm a Democrat; he's watching Fox News, I'm listening to NPR."
Their differences make them a stronger couple, she says.
"I think we're a good team," she says. "We have different views on world issues, as you can imagine. But we love our friends, we love our family and we really have so much fun together."
Rod visits Ann in Little Rock more often than she visits him in The Woodlands.
"I live on the golf course and I'm never leaving until they carry me out," Rod says. "I play golf is all I do. I wear cars out coming to see her. It's about 430 miles from my house to hers. It works fine."
Ann is busy working as a mediator for three programs, as well as with her volunteer work. She's a docent at the Arkansas Arts Center, she helps plan programs and find speakers and also serves on the curriculum committee for LifeQuest. When the Arkansas Repertory Theatre was operating, she was an usher there, too.
"He loves to watch the Astros and watch golf on TV and watch football and I am a nonsports person," Ann says. "I'm usually running around, but whatever I'm doing he supports me and he encourages me and he listens. I can do the things I do because he believes in me and he supports me. It's really important for someone to believe in you. I'm just so glad I met him. I'm just so glad I said I would have a drink."
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High Profile on 07/29/2018