BY JE’DON HOLLOWAY-TALLEY | Special to the Birmingham Times
PROTHANIEL AND NATOSHA HARRIS
Live: Bessemer
Married: June 6, 1992
Met: Fall 1989 during their junior year at A.H. Parker High School. However, it wasn’t until attending a house party that they would be introduced through a mutual friend.
“Prothaniel was not my type at all,” said Natosha, “but his smile took me in and made me kinda fall for him at the house party.”
[Friends] made the introduction [between me and Natosha] and I found her to be a nice person and from there we stuck together,” said Prothaniel.
First date: Spring 1990, at the Wildwood Movie Theater off Lakeshore Dr. [since closed] where they saw a film they can’t recall.
“It was my first date and my mother dropped us off. I was nervous because I didn’t know what we were going to talk about or how it was going to go, but Prothaniel made me feel at ease…,” Natosha said.
Prothaniel was also new to dating. “I sat there stiff as a board,” he said.. “We just sat there and enjoyed each other’s company.”
The turn: During their senior year (at Parker High School), in the fall of 1990.
“In my recollection, we started having regular meetings at her locker, so that was the unspoken sign and agreement that we were a couple,” Prothaniel said. “I would walk her to class and we were spending a lot of time on the phone.
“We were in the school choir together, and I was working at Chick-fil-A and one day my mom came to pick me up from school to take me to work and Prothaniel walked me outside and that was the moment we shared our first kiss,” Nathosha remembered. “So that made it definitive to me that he was my boyfriend. And then one day he asked me what color I was wearing to school the next day and I said, ‘black,’ and when I got there he came walking up the hall wearing all black and that made me say, ‘ok, we are definitely boyfriend and girlfriend’,” Natosha said.
The proposal: December 1991. Prothaniel went to the US Marine Corps after high school graduation and came home to Birmingham from Camp Pendleton [Oceanside, California] for Christmas. The couple had just had their first child, Dequincy, and Prothaniel popped the question at his mother’s apartment on the Southside of Birmingham.
“I came home with the rings, I bought the set from Daniels Jewelers in California… and we were spending time with my mother a few days before Christmas. I got down on one knee while we were sitting in the living room and asked her ‘Will you marry me?’ I don’t remember having too many words to say,” Prothaniel said.
Natosha remembers the proposal in more detail. “We were sitting on the floor in the living room, but I had my back turned [tending to the baby] and Prothaniel started saying all the things he would help me do. How he would take care of us, how he would help me cook and clean, and how much he loved me and wanted me to be his wife, and when I turned around to look at him, he was up on bended knee and said, ‘Will you marry me?’, and I said ‘Absolutely’,” Natosha recalled. “His mom was in the living room with us and was overjoyed and screaming ‘I’m so proud’.”
The wedding: New Grace Missionary Baptist Church in Mason City [Birmingham], officiated by pastor, Reverend Willie Lowe. Their colors were fuchsia, teal, and white.
Most memorable for the bride was how the wedding turned out under her mother’s direction. “Everything was beautiful. As soon as we got engaged my mother went to work and everything she planned turned out beautifully. Those memories are so dear to me because my mother has dementia now, and to be able to look back and see how coordinated she was and how she paid for everything means so much to me,” Natosha said. “We had our reception at the Pickwick Hotel in Five Points South, and near the end of the dinner my husband and I walked out, and when [other hotel patrons] saw us they started celebrating and applauding us and I thought it was beautiful.”
Most memorable for the groom was “seeing both families come together was beautiful to me. Taking the whole thing in was special because I’m a family-oriented person, and being the first one in my family to get married and bring the families together for something good and positive was important.”
Honeymoon: Prothaniel had to return to his base, so they honeymooned for one night at the Radisson Inn in Homewood. “We made up for it years later when we went to South Carolina [2001],” said Prothaniel.
“We ate at Carrabba’s for the first time, and it was the first restaurant we had been to without children since getting married and we made that our place,” Natosha said.
Words of wisdom: “Keeping Christ at the center of our marriage. We have nothing else but him to fall back on… I encourage any couple to keep God in the center of their marriage and it will keep them grounded,” Prothaniel said. “And understanding that your marriage is not going to be like anyone elses. That’s a mistake people make, trying to mimic other marriages, you have to understand that every marriage is unique. Marriage is work, you’re building it and as long as you’re working on it, your marriage gets better.”
“Much prayer,” said Natosha. “The saying is ‘if you pray, you’ll stay’, and that’s what we do. We pray together and separately, and to be together this long and still have the honey and the moon is an accomplishment.”
Happily ever after: The Harris’s attend Faith Apostolic Church in Birmingham where Prothaniel serves as an Elder, Deacon, and Music Director, and Natosha sings in the choir. They have two adult sons, Dequincy, 32, and Prothaniel Jr., 31, and four grandchildren.
Natosha, 50, is a North Birmingham native, and A.H. Parker High School grad. She attended Lawson State Community College where she received an associate’s degree in nursing, and Brandman University [online], where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in nursing. Natosha is a registered nurse and works at Hudson K-8, in North Birmingham.
Prothaniel, 50, is a Brighton Ala., native, by way of Titusville, an A.H. Parker High School grad, and a US Marine Corps veteran who served in FSSG [Force Service and Support Group] where he worked in supplies. He attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham [UAB] where he earned a bachelor of science degree in elementary education, and Belhaven University [online] where he obtained a master’s degree in educational technology. Prothaniel works as a technology integration facilitator for Birmingham City Schools.
“You Had Me at Hello’’ highlights married couples and the love that binds them. If you would like to be considered for a future “Hello’’ column, or know someone, please send nominations to Barnett Wright bwright@birminghamtimes.com. Include the couple’s name, contact number(s) and what makes their love story unique.
