Small-Town Sweethearts

Shawn Curtis wanted to show Jackie he'd marry her all over again. So he did

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JACKIE & SHAWN CURTIS

10th anniversary:	February 12, 1998
Hometown:	Dexter, Georgia
Shawn's occupation:	Pulp operator at a paper mill
Jackie's occupation:	Financial aide assistant, Heart of Georgia Technical Institute
MP readers:	4 years

Shawn and Jackie Curtis fondly recall the Saturday morning in 1987 when Shawn pulled up in front of Jackie's house to take her for a drive.

"I didn't know he was coming," says Jackie. "I was cleaning. I had on shorts and a ratty sweater and blue rollers in my hair!" She went for the drive, but she couldn't believe a guy could see her looking so bad and still come back for more. "I told my mamma, 'If I ever hear from him again, he's a keeper.'" Obviously, Shawn came back.

"I loved what she looked like," says Shawn. "Her personality brought me back. She's outgoing, very extroverted. I'm kind of quiet."

The Curtises married young, amid the pessimism of friends and relatives who held out little hope of their marriage succeeding. Since neither of them had ties to a church, they were married in a civil service.

Jackie laughs at the memory while Shawn tells the story: "At one point, the judge told us to join right hands. But instead, I raised my right hand like I was swearing an oath or joining the service."

A Matter of Faith

The Curtises might have been young and financially strapped, but they were very happy to be together. Then, a few years after they married, life took an unexpected turn. While Jackie was away at work, Shawn got bored messing with his car. "I flipped through some channels on the TV," he says, "and I came up with a Christian program. That day I gave my life to Christ."

Jackie says her husband's changed life was "like a magnet. He never said, 'You need to change your ways! You're going to hell.' He never condemned me. He just loved me and treated me like I was the most precious piece of china. He lived the Christian life and shared Scriptures with me."

About a year after Shawn became a Christian, when they'd spent another evening reading and discussing the Bible, Jackie told him, "I still don't know if I'm ready to be a Christian."

"Don't you believe God can change your heart?" he asked her, then went to bed, discouraged.

Jackie finishes the story. "That night I knelt down and asked God to come into my heart."

As they grew in their faith, they regretted that they hadn't married in a church, before God. So they made plans to renew their vows on their fifth anniversary.

"We rented a tiny church up in the mountains," explains Jackie. "We renewed our vows there privately, just Shawn, myself and the Lord. Oh yeah—and the preacher!"

It was a sweet day, complete with Jackie singing to Shawn as she walked down the aisle. "I thought I was pretty giddy about that day, but it was Shawn who said, 'Man, I want to do this every year!'"

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Originally published in: Marriage Partnership, 1998, Spring

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