Love is in the air in February! Thank you to each and every couple who shared their stories of meeting their spouses, their engagement stories, and where they are now! We also ran a Date Night contest recently in conjunction with our special Valentine’s feature. The winner of the Date Night dinner to Koestler Prime is _XXXXX_________! Congratulations and we hope you have a wonderful night out together!

Lucia shared with Stroll Eastover..."I met Sam while he was dog-sitting for a mutual friend back when we were attending Ole Miss. We dated for four years, graduated, and got engaged while living here in the Jackson area. We got married four years ago at the Ritz-Carlton in New Orleans with all of our friends and family present. It was truly the best day!" Lucia and Sam live on Twin Lakes Circle and have two children - Carter (3) who attends Jackson Prep Lower School and Madeline (2) who is a future Patriot.

Jimmy and Finney will have been married for 35 years this summer and have four adult children Sanford (Hannah), Thompson (Kendall), Harrison and Luci, plus two precious grandsons, James and Farris who live just minutes away.

Boxwood Circle residents, M'lee and Kelley Williams have been married for 32 years and are now empty nesters after raising their children, Zach, Jake, Anna Kate, and Luke. M'lee shared with Stroll Eastover, "Kelley and I grew up together at Northminster Baptist Church. We also both attended Jackson Academy for elementary and Jackson Prep for 7-12th grades. Being in the youth group at Northminster was really where our friendship grew. We dated each other's friends in high school and college. It was not until I was in nursing school and Kelley was working after attending Vanderbilt that we started dating each other."

Lake Circle residents, Gail and Scott Lamb have been married for 38 years. The couple met on a blind date set up by Scott's sister while they were in college at Ole Miss. Gail and Scott got married at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Jackson in 1985. They have two sons, Grayson (30) recently engaged to Emily and Grant (28) who both live in Dallas. 

"George had a plane fly over the State/Ole Miss game on Saturday, November 20, 1982. After parking his car at the Nursing School, he pops open the trunk and says we need to carry all kinds of rain gear (camouflage umbrellas, ponchos, a tent, rain hats). It was a beautiful sunny afternoon. He told me it was a really important game to stay the entirety for, knowing I probably wouldn't sit in the rain...thus, the gear. I only wish I had a photo of us carrying all the equipment across North State Street that day with not a cloud in the sky. At the beginning of the second quarter, I noticed a plane coming toward the stadium At that point, I could only read the word 'Cathy.' Immediately I turned to George to alert him there must be a new restaurant coming to Jackson called 'Cathy's. As I turned to him, he was holding the engagement ring in his right hand. After that, all things are a blur! My sister was at the game and began running up and down the rows looking for us and yelling our names. At that point, we gently and quietly opened the umbrellas to hide (I guess) from the 60,000 onlookers who most likely saw the flying engine. Again, no clouds in the sky. And, somewhere in the excitement of ringing bells, 'Cathy' chants and chaos, I said 'Yes!'"  The Mays of North Honeysuckle Lane have three daughters and sons-in-law and four very fun and active grandchildren. They celebrated their 40th anniversary last July!

Cathy and Bill Hayes have lived in Eastover on Twin Lake Circle since 1985! Cathy shares their story..."Bill enjoys telling people that he met me while he was in a mental institution (and that he has been crazy about me ever since!) Actually, he was staying with his brother, Jimmy Hays, who was working at the Gulfport VA, which was then a mental hospital. That was the summer of 1961. We dated five years long distance at different colleges and married in 1966 - 57 years ago. I had signed a contract to teach in Nashville but got married instead - best choice! Today we are blessed with three children and nine grandchildren."

Karley and Jordan Davis have lived in their North Honeysuckle Lane home for six months, and Karley grew up in Eastover on Greentree Place. Karley told us that Jordan proposed to her five weeks into dating, and the couple got married in August of 2023 in Natchez. Karley and Jordan have a blended family including Karley's has two sons, Reece(10) and John David (6), and Jordan's three children, Thomas (12), Emery (9) and Mary Fran (4). Congrats on your recent marraige!

Caroline and Matt just got married on January 20, 2024! Congratulations to the newlyweds! Caroline shared with us..."I, having no clue who Matt was, got invited to a birthday party that he was hosting at his house in 2020. We met that night, and it was pretty much immediate love, even despite the fact that I lived in Dallas and he lived in Jackson! Matt proposed in April of 2023, and we got married in Oxford last month!"

Allison and Jeff Fracchia
Allison and Jeff Fracchia moved to their Boxwood Circle home three years ago. Allison shared their story with Stroll Eastover..."Jeff and I are high school sweethearts and met during the summer of 1986. He went to Bishop Byrne Catholic School in Memphis, and I went to Southaven High School. We continued to date through college at MSU. Part of this time was spent long-distance as I attended Physical Therapy School at UMMC, and Jeff was completing his Masters degree in Civil Engineering at Mississippi State University. Jeff proposed to me in Chicago on the top of the John Hancock Building in October 1994. We were married six months later on April 29, 1995. We have two children, Reid (25) and Owen (23)."