I
Happily
Ever After
Starts Here
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t was a bright, late-summer day when Paul first saw her
at Tarleton State University, and although he didn’t even
know her name, he knew that he was going to marry her.
“She was drop-dead gorgeous,” Paul recalls. “What I
didn’t know then was that she was even more beautiful
on the inside.”
Paul was a graduate student who knew his way around
campus and a native of Mississippi, Courtney was just
moving into her dorm before working on her bachelor’s
degree. Always the guy who’s willing to volunteer when-
ever he’s needed, Paul gave tours to freshmen, helped
newbies find their way around campus and assisted new
students in becoming acclimated to campus life. Courtney
was one of them. Not only did Paul manage to meet her,
he was entrusted with the task of showing her around
campus.
While Paul was smitten with Courtney, she was polite-
ly indifferent to Paul’s reaction to her, mostly because
when she had arrived on campus she already had a
boyfriend.
Undaunted, Paul persisted, eventually forging a friend-
ship with Courtney. But, once she got to know Paul, real-
ized what a great guy he was and a great friend.
So, the two of them were “just friends.” Their relation-
ship was stalled in the platonic gear for a year and a half.
Then, suddenly the romance gods smiled on Paul.
Courtney broke up with her boyfriend.
On their first date they had dinner at a Chili’s in Fort
Worth.
That was in 1995.
Paul proposed to Courtney a year later, in Dallas when
he took her to dinner at the Hyatt Regency.
“Our wedding was in West Monroe, Louisiana,” Paul
said. “It was a beautiful wedding.”
Don’t ask him to describe it — he was too dazzled by
his radiantly lovely bride to notice details.
“I can’t remember any of the wedding particulars,”
Paul said. “All I remember is how beautiful Courtney
looked.”
It’s been almost a quarter of a century since Paul first
caught a glimpse of that beautiful young girl sprinting
across campus. They have two children together, they
work together in the successful insurance agency they’ve
established and grown together and, according to Paul,
they have never been happier.
The most recent development in the lives of the
Paschall’s is that Paul has just re-entered politics,
last month when he threw his hat into the ring in
Weatherford’s mayoral race.
“My years of service and diverse roles of leadership
have prepared me to serve as the Mayor of Weatherford,”
Paul said. “If the citizens of Weatherford choose me to be
the Mayor, I will serve with absolute courage and focus.
When asked who was the first person to suggest that
he would be a great mayor, Paul smiled, before answer-
ing, “Courtney.”
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