‘I Was Willing to Wait Because I Knew She Would Be My Wife [And] It Happened Right on Time’

BY KEISA SHARPE | Special to the Birmingham Times JOY AND ROBERT EVERSON Live: Bessemer Married: Nov. 6, 1993 Met: Pine Valley in the summer of 1982 when both were teens. Joy remembers visiting the park (located just outside of Trussville) when she was 12 and Robert was 13. Joy went on a family trip with her cousin Rhonda Briggins, who was also a close friend throughout elementary (McElwain Elementary and Woodrow Wilson Elementary and middle school (Putnam Middle School) in Birmingham. They enjoyed the trip and toward the end of it “as we were getting back on the bus to leave Pine Valley, Robert and I noticed each other,” recalled Joy. “Not knowing it then, but I learned later that Rhonda and Honey Bee (Robert) were cousins.” After that meeting, Joy and Robert would ask Rhonda about one another. At age 14, Joy moved from Birmingham in fall 1985 as her dad was a member of the United States Army. Her travels with her family would take her to Fort Campbell, Kentucky to finish high school. First date: After Robert graduated from Jackson Olin High School in 1987 , Joy moved back to Birmingham after graduating from Fort Campbell...