Romancing the Geek - An Internet Love Story
      This is the story of Bart and Jean, who found true love via the internet.
Actually, we know that it was God who brought us together, but He used the internet to do it. Both of us being computer geeks, it was just a natural way for us to meet, date, and fall head-over-heels in love!

It all started one rainy spring day in April when Jean did a search on the American Singles website to find the man of her dreams. Having done this search many times before and after having found a few "frogs", this time she found her prince, although she didn't know it yet! After reading Bart's profile, she decided to email him and say hello. Bart was pleased to get the email and decided to check out Jean's profile just for fun. Hmmmm, he thought, she sounds pretty nice. After playing "hard to get" for about a week, Bart decided to send an email back to Jean and get to know her better. She lived a little farther away than he would have liked (about 2 hours drive) but he was intrigued...


Over the next couple of months they conversed using AOL Instant Messenger and eventually the phone.  They got to know each other very well, and Jean suggested a time for them to meet face-to-face in early June. Bart decided to spend Sunday morning (June 11th) taking the drive from Kingsport, TN to Kingston, TN. After spending the morning talking they went to meet her parents in the early afternoon. Dad had two questions for Bart: "How do you change the oil in a riding lawn mower?" and "What do you do if an engine keeps overheating?" After passing both tests Bart got a "Bless you my son" out of Dad. When it was time for Bart to return home, Jean made dinner for him and sent him on his way until the next time they could get together.

As fate would have it, the next day Bart's job sent him to a late afternoon
repair job in a county about an hour past Jean's house. Even though they had not been expecting to see each other until the next weekend, Bart was able to have dinner with Jean Monday evening. On Wednesday Bart's work brought him though Oak Ridge to the county seat in Clinton, so on the way he stopped in at Jean's workplace and gave her a lovely pink rose.

Bart's job took him to West Tennessee at the beginning of the next week so he spent the weekend with Jean. Circumstances came up so that this sort of thing continually happened until around mid-July. By this time they already knew without a doubt that God had meant for them to be together. They began making plans to be married later in the year.

'Til Death Do Us Part...
      The engagement ring was ordered and arrived on Monday the 17th of July.
So, that evening Bart and Jean went to visit her parents so that Bart could ask Dad THE question. His answer was an enthusiastic "yes" (after all, he had waited 40 years for this...)so plans for a wedding were now in full force. Mom and Jean had a great time making all the arrangements. Due to travel from across the country for most of Bart's family, a late October wedding seemed best for everyone to be able to make the journey. The wedding was set for Friday October 20th, 2000. The reason for deciding against a Saturday wedding was that the 21st was the Tennessee-Alabama game and in Tennessee...you just don't mess with Vols football (especially the Tennessee-Alabama game!). The plan was to have a lovely Friday evening wedding and an informal party/reception all day Saturday at the house.

The wedding day was perfect. 
Dad gave Jean away and Jean's sister Connie was the Matron of Honor. Her niece Lindsay was the bridesmaid and friend Leora Levey was the flower girl. Bart's best man was his brother Mike, and his attendant was his youngest brother Eric. About 40 family members and friends attended the wedding at Farragut Christian Church in Knoxville. A good time was had by all at the wedding and at the reception/party the next day. Yes, we had the Tennessee-Alabama game playing on a few TV's, along with typical BBQ fare and an evening topped off with a fireworks display! Jean and Bart headed off the next day for their wonderful honeymoon trip to Fripp Island & Charleston, SC.


And they lived happily ever after...