‘I Got on My Knees and Asked if She Would Marry Me … She Said ‘Yes’

BY JE’DON HOLLOWAY-TALLEY | Special to the Birmingham Times

LORIE AND MYERS HAWKINS III

Live: Pleasant Grove

Married: Sept. 19, 1987

Met: Fall 1978 on Alabama A&M University’s campus near Lorie’s dorm. Myers was walking with another friend when he recognized Lorie, who he had attended school with at A.G. Gaston Middle and stopped her to confirm whether she was the girl from class who shared his last name.

“I said, ‘excuse me, are you a Hawkins?’ and she got smart with me and said, ‘why you want to know?’ and I told her she looked familiar like someone I went to [middle school] with,” recalled Myers.

“I stood there and talked to him for a little while. [Turns out] he was friends with my brother, and he told me that he had a crush on me in middle school, but he was too shy to say anything,” said Lorie.

“Once she told me her name, I went back up there to her [dorm] to visit with her. I’d go to her dorm hall and have them page her to come down and we’d talk, and once we ran into each other at a party we began to talk more,” Myers said.

First date: Spring 1979, at an on-campus hamburger joint called the Greasy Spoon.

“Remember, I’d had a crush on her since middle school,” Myers said. “We made it a consistent thing to meet up there and talk.”

“That became our standard. We mostly met there on Sundays after church. And he had a car, and we used to go to Long John Silvers and Krystals too,” Lorie said.

The turn: Spring 1979, I was in the ROTC, and I asked her to go to the ROTC Ball with me. I don’t remember [a conversation about becoming exclusive] I just know my actions spoke. I had a car and I used to take her home to Birmingham, I would take her wherever she needed to go. And then there was an AKA Ball, and I went with her,” Myers said.

Both were Hawkins and Myers said he wanted to make sure they weren’t related. “So my granddaddy said ‘hold it there buddy, let me check the family tree’, and we were not related. Her kinfolk are from Greenville, Alabama, and my kinfolk are from the [Jasper AL area],” said Myers.

Lorie finished school at Alabama A&M University in spring 1982, and Myers finished there in the spring of 1983. Myers got a job with the US Army Corp of Engineers, and subsequently went to the military in 1985, and the pair continued to date long distance.

The proposal: Summer 1986, at Lorie’s parents’ home in Mason City. “I had gotten the okay from her mom and dad to marry their daughter, and then the next day, I got on my knees and asked her if she would marry me, and she said ‘yes’, Myers said.

“I was happy, it had been a long time and he had gotten a good job [in Lowndes County, at the US Army Corp of Engineers as a Park Ranger] so I was happy to take the next step,” Lorie said.

Lorie and Myers Hawkins III met in 1978 on the campus of Alabama A&M University. The couple married in 1987. (Provided Photos)

The wedding: At First Baptist Church Mason City, officiated Reverend William Perry, and Myers’ father, Reverend Myers Hawkins Jr. Their colors were light blue, navy blue, and white.

Most memorable for the bride was her nerves. “I was nervous and shaking, I was holding on to my dad, but once I walked in and saw everyone smiling at me [it resolved], and then I looked down the aisle and Myers had tears in his eyes. It made me happy and put me at ease. Everything went just fine,” Lorie said.

Most memorable for the groom was saluting his bride. “For me, it was having a big crowd of family and friends there to watch the ceremony and kissing my bride. Kissing her as my wife for the first time was really something to remember,” Myers said.

They honeymooned in Gatlinburg, Tenn., in the cabins. “We had a beautiful view, we enjoyed each other’s company and walked around. I loved seeing the mountains and the trees,” said Myers.

Words of wisdom: “Love one another and always remember that a couple who prays together stays together,” Myers said. “There are rough patches in any relationship, but you have to smooth it out and don’t go to bed with anger on your heart. You have to be willing to give and take. Marriage is not 50/50, that’s an illusion. There’s no such thing. Each marriage and relationship is different, you both have to put in the work. Try to learn each other’s triggers and don’t push each other’s buttons. And if children are in the picture, both spouses have to raise them. Both need to get up in the middle of the night, take them to ball practice, and anything else. Both have to do the work in raising kids.”

Lorie said she agreed with everything Myers said.

Happily ever after: The Hawkins are members of Ward Chapel AME [African Methodist Episcopal] Church in Selma, where Myers is a steward, and Lorie is on the usher board and missionary team. They have two adult sons, Myers IV, 34, and Darrius, 29 and a granddaughter, McKenzie, 8 months.

Lorie, 65, is a Mason City [Birmingham] native and Ramsay High School grad. She attended Alabama A&M University where she earned a BS in special education and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. Lorie retired in 2013 from Dallas County Schools where she worked 25 years as an educator.

Myers, 64, is a Powderly Hills native [Birmingham], and Jones Valley High School grad. He attended Alabama A&M University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in forestry, and a minor in business administration. He served in the US Air Force Reserves for 20 years and 9 months in the maintenance department and also earned an associate’s degree from the US Air Force in metallurgy [study of metals]. He retired from the US Army Corp of Engineers in 2018, after serving 34 years.

“You Had Me at Hello’’ highlights married couples and the love that binds them. If you would like to be considered for a future “Hello’’ column, or know someone, please send nominations to Barnett Wright bwright@birminghamtimes.com. Include the couple’s name, contact number(s) and what makes their love story unique.

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