For Shannon Pruitt, a trip to the fair was serious business; for Susan Williams it was all fun and games.
He was in love, and she wasn't yet aware.
Shannon and Susan knew each other growing up in Hector.
"She was one of my sister's best friends. There was a big group of friends and it was a big crew of them all the time at one of them's house," Shannon says.
He doesn't remember much about her from that time, though.
Susan was a seventh-grader, two years behind Shannon, when they first met. His family moved to West Fork when he was a junior in high school, but after graduation he returned to his hometown and started classes at Arkansas Tech University in nearby Russellville.
"I reconnected with people here and started going to ballgames again, just seeing old friends," he says, including Susan in that description.
He began making concerted efforts to be in Susan's presence, but they weren't on the same wavelength. What he thought of as group dates were just get-togethers in her mind.
Susan, a high school junior then, was having fun but was oblivious to the fact that Shannon had orchestrated an outing to the county fair, and that he also repeatedly maneuvered himself into the seat next to her on just about every ride.
He watched for her yellow Ford Festiva in the parking lot where the young people gathered in Hector on weekend nights, anxious for the moment she would stop to talk.
Shannon's sister was in the homecoming court at West Fork that fall, and Susan was among a set of friends who went with Shannon to watch her walk across the football field.
"She still wasn't putting it together," Shannon says of Susan. "She thought I was still interested in an old girlfriend, I think."
Shannon just wasn't on her radar, Susan says.
"I was just really involved in basketball," she says. "I wasn't really interested in dating anyone. I was in high school and he was in college, so I just really wasn't paying attention to him. He was just a friend."
Shannon went to all of Susan's basketball games, cheering her on even when he had to sit on his own in the stands. This might have been the tipoff for her understanding of his feelings, though it was still necessary for him to be blunt.
"He asked me to go out with him by myself, not a group date," says Susan, who was surprised, but accepted.
They went to see a movie in Russellville.
"I do remember him bringing me a rose when he picked me up," she says.
Not long after that, Shannon gave Susan his class ring.
They dated for about six months, and then broke up because Shannon was intimidated by the strong feelings he had for Susan.
"He broke up with me for no reason," she says.
About six months later, he realized after a conversation with his mother that he couldn't be without her anymore.
"She said, 'It sounds like she's the one,'" he says. "I was miserable, [Susan] was miserable. ... I went to her house and apologized and I said, 'Will you take me back?'"
It's the least favorite part of the story for both of them, but their time apart cemented their feelings and within a few months they were engaged.
Shannon bought a stuffed animal and on Valentine's Day after one of her basketball games, he went to her house to give it to her. He had already gotten her family's blessing by then, and he proposed.
"It was nothing big, just me and her at her house with a stuffed animal and a ring in a box," he says.
They were married on Aug. 4, 1993, at Hector First Assembly of God. The ceremony was officiated by his grandfather, who was once pastor of the church.
Shannon finished college soon after their wedding and they moved to Missouri for about four years before they returned to Hector to serve as youth pastors at First Assembly. They were youth pastors and then senior pastors at a church in Star City for four years and then went to South America and Ecuador as missionaries for 12 years.
Susan summed up their time together with a post on Facebook with this post: "14 houses. 3 countries. 2 kids (really 4 now) We've walked on the equator. Eaten guinea pig, camel, worms, etc. Climbed volcanoes. Survived a coup. Survived many earthquakes. Learned another language. Raised two great kids. Pastor a great church. I think it's been a great adventure so far."
In 2019, they returned to Hector, where Shannon is pastor of First Assembly. Susan fills several roles within the church and works full time for a dental office in Russellville.
They have two children -- Ethan Pruitt and Megan Neal, both of Little Rock.
Shannon says that while they are now on the same page about their feelings for each other, their personalities remain divergent -- and that's a plus.
"God knew what he was doing when he put us together, that's for sure," Shannon says. "I can't imagine life without her."
If you have an interesting how-we-met story or if you know someone who does, please call (501) 425-7228 or email:
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The first time I saw my future spouse:
He says: “I thought she had a lot of freckles.”
She says: “I was a kid. I didn’t even notice him.”
On our wedding day:
He says: “She stepped into the aisle and I saw her for the first time and I began to cry.”
She says: “It was probably the first time I ever wore makeup.”
My advice for a long happy marriage:
He says: “Love unconditionally. My wife is my best friend, above anyone else in the world. We talk things out. If you want to grow old with somebody, then you have to grow with somebody.”
She says: “Communicate.”
