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Judy & Barry Kirkpatrick<br />
pearl<br />
Heather & Ben Bryan<br />
Flowood<br />
Barry was sent to Meridian Navel Air Station in 1961.<br />
Upon arriving, one of his roommates set up a double date<br />
for them. The roommate was going on the date with Judy<br />
and arranged for Barry to be with one of Judy’s friends.<br />
From the first minute they met, Barry knew he wanted to<br />
get to know Judy better. A couple of days later, Barry found<br />
out Judy was going to take her niece to the Meridian County<br />
Fair. He made sure he was there. Barry said, “We had a<br />
great time until we rode the Ferris wheel. After coming<br />
down I threw up–not a very good impression to make.”<br />
Barry did not have a car at that time so they didn’t go<br />
out much until Christmas when he went home and bought<br />
a 1957 Pontiac. When Barry returned after the holidays, he<br />
ran into snow south of Butler, Alabama. The weather got<br />
pretty bad, and a neighborly couple hosted Barry for the<br />
night. The next day, Barry drove in over 8 inches of snow<br />
on the roads. He went to Judy’s home, then called his duty<br />
officer and said he couldn’t make it back to the base. Barry<br />
spent another week at Judy’s parents’ home. They got<br />
married June 29, 1962. In June, Barry and Judy will<br />
celebrate their fifty-fourth wedding anniversary.<br />
Ben and Heather spent their whole lives less than a mile<br />
from each other. It wasn’t until they were ages 20 and 21<br />
that the two actually met. Their college roommates were old<br />
friends, and eventually Ben and Heather found themselves<br />
in the same circle of friends. They started dating in the<br />
spring of 2008. Heather said, “I remember calling my mom<br />
after our first date to tell her I had just met the man I was<br />
going to marry.”<br />
Today Ben and Heather jokingly talk about how from<br />
day one they were sure that marriage was in their future.<br />
Ben and Heather both finished their degrees at Ole Miss<br />
and moved home to join the real world. Ben proposed<br />
the day after Thanksgiving, his favorite holiday, in 2009.<br />
They were married July 10, 2010. Since then, Ben and<br />
Heather’s family has expanded and they have two<br />
wonderful children: Caroline born <strong>March</strong> 20, 2013 and<br />
Josh born December 8, 2015.<br />
The couple currently resides in Flowood. Ben works<br />
at Morgan White Group as an accounting associate, and<br />
Heather teaches at Norwest <strong>Rankin</strong> High School. The<br />
Bryans are excited to raise their family in the same<br />
community they both grew up in.<br />
18 • <strong>February</strong>/<strong>March</strong> <strong>2016</strong>
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