Once upon a life time ...

... Tommy Herrington and Beverly Smith were born in separate hospitals in Jacksonville, Florida; their mothers attended the same Junior High (John Gorrie); their grandmothers both owned property in the same block at Neptune Beach (next to Jacksonville Beach), and who knows where else their lives nearly touched ... probably walked over the same sand and passed each other on the beach ... perhaps crashed Bumper Cars at the wonderful Boardwalk ...

But it wasn't time ... 

  Their lives were a series of near misses ...  ironically, in 1948 both families moved to Albany, GA, where they became members of Albany First United Methodist, MYF and sang in the Youth Choir.  They attended Albany Junior and High Schools, although Tommy was in the Class of 1956 and Beverly in the Class of 1955.  Beverly directed the Albany High Troubadours, and Tommy sang tenor in that ensemble ... but they never dated ... 

It wasn't time!

In 1979, they met again while attending the funeral of Marty MacBeth Steck, a dear friend, but they did not stay in contact ...  

It wasn't time ...

And in 1999, while looking for other friends on Classmates.com, Tommy saw Beverly's name listed and emailed her.  Over the next four years, a special bond of friendship was formed ... one where Tommy even counseled Beverly on her love life.  But it was not until toward the end of 2002, after deciding to move back to Georgia where he would be close to his parents who live in Athens, and after a 4 year Internet friendship ... that Tommy asked Beverly to have dinner with him. In time, the friendship turned to love, and on October 25, 2003, the couple announced their engagement before a group of dear Albany High friends ... The OpineLine Group!!  Laughter, tears and champagne flowed, because ...

Finally ... it was time!

This page was last updated on 09/08/11