Our History..

When people ask us how we met, and we tell them, they look at us like, "you gotta be kidding me, seriously?" "No,,, really?" "Those don't actually work, do they?" And here it is, nearly 14 years later, and what started out as a dare has turned out to be what we believe is the most rewarding life either of us could have ever hoped to have.

It all started in October, 1994 in Amarillo, Texas. Tonya worked for the Girl Scout Council (not a good place to meet men) and Bill worked for a contractor at the Pantex Plant. Bill was new to Texas after living in Phoenix, AZ for the previous 10 years. Tonya was a single mom and Bill was new to town neither were into dating/going to bars (messy break-ups/divorces will sour one's outlook and we had both been there).

One night after several glasses of wine one of Tonya's friends "dared" her to run a personal ad in the local newspaper so she might meet someone that would be fun to hang out with, "it doesn't have to be a serious relationship, just someone you can go out to dinner or a movie with" (I think she was tired of babysitting me evening after evening). After some thought she decided what the heck, what have I got to lose and proceeded with posting the ad in the local newspaper. (Please keep in mind, this was in 1994 and people weren't hardly as crazy as they are these days) and Amarillo was a smaller town in the Bible Belt of Texas. She received several responses to her ad and began to enjoy meeting these new people.

Not being completely stupid after her personal safety (dinner & a movie is not that important), she never gave anyone her home address and would always insist on meeting them at a very public place, the mall or at Denny's for coffee. During the course she met several very nice guys that were fun visit with and then there were also the rather freaky guys, the ones you are looking for the closest exit so you can get the heck out of there, but all in all it was a good experience.

One day she checked her voice mail box and found a response from Bill, "WOW" she thought, there is something different about him. So she gave him a call and they talked for over an hour and agreed to meet for dinner. Then she broke her #1 personal safety rule and invited him to her place to come pick her up for dinner that week-end (yes sight unseen, never met the man, only spoke to him on the phone and she gives "this man" her home address...).

The first date (10/22/94) was a big success, talked like we'd know each other forever, and we knew it had to be love when we both pushed to tomatoes off to the side of our salad! We talked the next day on the phone for several hours and then we saw each other each day after that... One could say that since our first date we have been inseparable.

Knowing we had found our soul mate we were married on January 28, 1995. We thank the Lord each day that it was his will that put us both in Amarillo at the same time so we make the connection for a life together.

Prior to October 22,1994Bill had been married 2 times and had 3 children from those marriages. Brittany (1980), from his first marriage; Whitney (1987) and Billy (1989) from his second.

Tonya had been previously married for 18 years, a marriage that resulted in being blessed with 2 boys, Jeremy (1976) and Christopher (1979).

Others you will hear us mention from time to time
Our Children:
Jeremy married Daesha in 2000 and proud pet parents to Hannah the dog, Edgar the mean kitty and a new addition kitty that I'm not sure of it's name and they live in League City, Tx.
Christopher and Heather have been together for 2 years and are engaged. Heather had 2 children from a previous marriage, Sierra (age 10) and Hunter (age 7) both of which Christopher loves as if he were their biological father. They live in Crosby, Tx.
Brittany is single and lives in Southern California. She is a mechanical engineer and is going to school in the evenings to work towards a Master's in Mechanical Engineering.
Whitney is single and lives in Auburn, WA, she is a "scale operator" for a sand and gravel pit operation.
Billy is single and lives in Graham, WA and Cedar City, UT.

Our Siblings:
We lost Bill's sister Linda in June to breast cancer. We miss her so much.
Bill's brother Don and his wife Diane live in Phoenix, Az
Bill's sister Karen and her husband Ronny live in Ft. Worth, Tx.
Tonya's brother Waudell and his wife Pat live in Fritch, Tx.
Tonya's brother Ronney and his wife Marilyn live in Amarillo, Tx.

Mom
Tonya's mom, Evelyn will be 89 in January. She still lives on her own in Borger, Tx.