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Brave Little
LION HEART
WORDS Jenny Boulden IMAGES courtesy Kelly Stuckey
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There’s an ancient Zen saying: “The deeper sorrow cuts into your soul, the more joy you can contain.” Let it be known, Kelly Stuckey and her six-year-old son Everett have souls full of joy. But carving out that space has not been an easy journey. In 2012, Fort Smith native Kelly Cooper married Zac Stuckey of Fayetteville. He’d proposed to her at Top of the Rock in New York City, in what Kelly says was a typically grand gesture. Zac had a deep sense of romance. He was a graphic designer in marketing. Kelly had recently discovered her passion for cutting and styling hair. A year into their marriage, they opened Crown Beauty Bar in Fayetteville, which Kelly ran day to day, while Zac managed the marketing and business side. That salon was their first baby.
Little lion man But an actual baby was taking much longer. After three years of trying, just weeks before they were about to start fertility treatments, they conceived. “My whole pregnancy was really wonderful,” Kelly says. “Just so smooth. It couldn’t have gone better.” Delivering the baby, however, did not go smoothly. After forty-six long hours of labor, culminating in an emergency C-section, Everett Price Stuckey came into the world. He was a beautiful, healthy baby, with a larger-than-average head that had caused her labor complications. It was the only difference anyone noticed. Throughout the pregnancy, Kelly had been dreaming of lions, and unprompted one day, Zac had said he wanted a lion in Everett Stuckey Noah Evans
the nursery. When they discovered the name Everett meant ‘brave’ like a lion, it felt like a sign.
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