SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. — Valentine’s Day has passed but this month is dedicated to all things related to love. One Sevierville couple is showing that love has no boundaries or age limits.
Barbara and Lester Huntley have been married since 2018. But Barbara said their love story didn’t start with a lot of love.
She said she first met Lester while eating at Golden Corral with her late husband.
"I was married before, for over 25 years," Barbara said. "And me and my husband lived in Newport. And we always went to the Golden Corral. And it's available on Wednesday because we went shopping there at Kroger... had a senior discount there on Wednesday. So I'm always for discount. So that's how we went every Wednesday to eat at the Golden Corral."
Barbara said that's when they met Lester because he also would be at the restaurant on Wednesdays.
"Lester was living just around the corner from there," she said. "And on his way to work. He was eating there every time because it was cheaper for somebody to go there than cooking something at home. And my husband was retired Army military and Lester's retired Army military. And it was funny, the guys started to talk when we saw each other. And I did not like to stop and talk to Lester, because he only had one tooth in front. And it looks funny to me. And I didn't want to stare. So I just said hi, and drop my husband off there and take a talk and I went to the bathroom."
She said after her husband passed away, the people at Golden Corral became her family. On what would’ve been his 75th birthday, she invited people who helped her grieve to the restaurant.
“I invited everybody that helped me through the morning to the Golden Corral to celebrate his 75th birthday," Barbara said. "Friends, family, Neighbors. And so I considered Lester his friend and I wrote, I had written invitations. My husband's name was Carroll, but everybody know him as Jerry and Lester knew him as Jerry. So the invitation said, 'Please help me celebrate Carroll's 75th birthday.' And since Lester wasn't there, one of the waitresses gave that invitation to him and he didn't know who Carroll was. He thought it was a woman. And he got curious."
Barbara said when Lester showed up, she saw him in a new light.
"I always saw him in his work clothes when he went to a community center," she said. "Before work, he had stained work clothes on, baseball cap, I didn't even know he had white hair. And this was actually on a Sunday. And he came from church."
After the birthday celebration, they started to hang out more. Barbara said she became an American citizen on Lester's birthday on March 10, 2017.
"I'm actually from Germany, I had applied for citizenship before my husband passed," she said. "I had to go to Chattanooga to be sworn in, on Lester's birthday actually, and nobody wanted to come with me. He offered to come with me. But I'm like, I don't know about that. I don't really know that guy. So I don't want to drive to Chattanooga, Sam. And I was, I was actually sworn in on Lester's birthday. So after the swearing-in ceremony, I head back to the Golden Corral. And we celebrated his birthday and my birthday as a citizen together."
For Halloween, she said they dressed up as a bride and groom, and by Thanksgiving of that year, they were engaged. They got married on Aug. 8, 2018, at the place where their love story started.
“That's when we got married at the Golden Corral because that's our that was our family there and they supplied everything they supplied a beautiful arch and we had a really, really good wedding at the Golden Corral. That's our story.”
Both Lester and Barbara said they were not looking for love again after their first marriages.
Lester said communication between couples is important and love is needed to also make things work.
“We're doing good, you know, having to adjust to each other's cultures," he said. "It's hard work, very hard. But you know, if we really love each other, you know, you take the good and the bad because it takes that how a couple of together for love. And if I ain't there, it just ain't gonna happen. As far as love goes, we're very good. We do things that, enjoy things together. And sometimes we have arguments just like everybody that's married. But behind it all, there's a love there that can't be broken.”
The couple now lives in the Brookdale senior living community, not far from where they first met.
Barbara said they don’t go to the Golden Corral as often because the living community provides meals.