Cheryl & Jack Oliver

Laughing All The Way To The Altar

AS THEY CELEBRATE 20 YEARS TOGETHER, THEY REFLECT ON WHAT HAS GIVEN THEM STRENGTH IN THEIR MARRIAGE

Their relationship started with humor, and 20 years later, despite the slings and arrows of aging, humor weaves its way through every day Cheryl and Jack have together.

Cheryl, born and raised in Quitman, was a widow when she met Jack. He lived across the lake and several friends had poked and prodded and tried to get them together.

Cheryl remembers saying, “If he wants to meet me, he’ll have to call me. Nice girls don't call boys,” adding, “My mother was still alive in Quitman and she would’ve frowned on that move.”

Jack did call. He needed to discuss the fish issue on the lake, something all the homeowners were debating, and she remembers him asking if she’d like to go to lunch to talk about it.

It was a Ruby Tuesday lunch and they laughed through the whole meal. Afterwards, they had fun playing a trick on his business partner and that set the foundation for a relationship based on happiness, and lots of laughing.

Cheryl and Jack spent five years teaching each other different pursuits. Jack taught Cheryl how to handle her boat, and together they enjoyed fishing. Cheryl was an avid tennis player so Jack took it up to play with her. Jack was a scratch golfer, born with a golf club in his hand. He played for UGA and won the SEC in 1963, so while Cheryl enjoyed going out on the course with him, and riding in the cart, she says playing golf with him was rather intimidating and pretty much out of the question.

The couple married in 2003 on Thanksgiving, surrounded by their families at the Lake Park United Methodist Chapel. Cheryl especially recalls the beautiful music that day. Her siblings played guitar and sang. Her son Hal wrote a song and sang it accompanied by his guitar.

In keeping with the ever-present undercurrent of laughter in their relationship, Cheryl will always remember when the chapel doors opened, instead of the CD of love songs that was supposed to be playing, Elton John’s “Benny and the Jets” blared out. They think she might be the only bride in history to walk down the aisle to that one.

The reception was at their home and was a traditional Thanksgiving feast. As they were leaving for their weekend away, her son Hal ran to grab some rice from the pantry to throw at the departing couple. He threw it into the car, lest they skip that good luck tradition, as they were pulling off. Cheryl said, “About that time, our eyes started to burn. It was Zatarain’s Cajun Rice. Jack did everything he could to get that smell out of the car. It was so strong, he sold it the next week.”

Cheryl loves to travel. Jack is a homebody. When asked about traveling, Jack said, “I was stationed in Germany in the Army for four years after UGA. I was what’s called an Obligated Volunteer. I had enough travel with the military.” Cheryl said, “Jack clipped my wings, but only because I don’t want to go without him. I’d rather stay right here with him, unless it’s a girls’ trip, of course.”

The two complement each other. Cheryl does the talking for the both of them. She is the social butterfly. Jack prefers to sit and listen. His favorite man to quote is Churchill, and his favorite saying of his is: “This world is fraught with missed opportunities to keep your mouth shut.”

Both Jack’s sons, Jackie, married to Mary, and Maxwell, married to Rumie, have keen senses of humor. They live in Philadelphia and Atlanta, respectively, restricting the sharing of that humor to electronic means for the most part.

In their early years of life together, Jack and Cheryl used to launch their pontoon boat, The Minnow, on pretty evenings, and collect the neighbors for a twilight cocktail cruise. Cheryl laments that although they love to entertain they do it less often these days. It’s become quite a bit of work. Cheryl and Jack are enjoying retirement. Jack sold his Remax business five years ago, although he keeps his license current and still sends referrals to his colleagues, because after 44 active years in real estate he’s not ready to stop completely.

Cheryl is retired from the Turner Center for the Arts, where she was the Executive Director for 10 years. It’s a job she profoundly loved, but the hours were long and each day she never really stopped thinking about the center. She is happy to support the center as a volunteer these days. She and Jack make every effort to attend Turner Center events and she is proud that the Hal & Jill Project continues to thrive at the center. Cheryl says that her two children, Hal and Jill, live in heaven. They are memorialized with the Hal & Jill Project, which teaches local children to play stringed instruments. Coming soon, they will be adding drumming to the offerings. “When I put out the call for donations of guitars and other stringed instruments at the beginning of the project, we couldn’t walk in our offices, there were so many donations. The response was deeply gratifying.”

As Cheryl and Jack celebrate 20 years in 2023, they reflect on what has given them strength in their marriage. “We started out with humor as our mainstay and we built upon our faith and mutual respect for each other. We love our families and we have stayed close with our children, grandchildren, and all of the extended members of our families.”

When Jack and Cheryl aren’t enjoying the lake or the Turner Center, they can be found in Hiawassee. “I’m a mountain girl, just like my dad. We have always loved the mountains.”

They love to quote Yogi Berra and enjoyed reading a book of his sayings to each other. They’d each read a chapter every night before bed and crack each other up. Jack said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Cheryl followed up with, “The future ain’t what it used to be.”

During her prior employment with Kids’ Chance, a non-profit organization that gave scholarships to children whose parents had been killed or injured in workplace accidents, Cheryl went sightseeing while at a conference in North Georgia, hoping to spot a well-advertised Frog Pond. She never found it, but she did find a lovely cabin on Frog Pond Rd. She and Jack try to get up there several times a year, and consider it their spiritual retreat. “Here, we live five miles from the Florida line; there, we are five miles from the North Carolina line. We go as far as we can, but still stay in Georgia. Life is good because God is good!” | VM

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