BY JE’DON HOLLOWAY-TALLEY | Special to the Birmingham Times
ALFONSO AND LUCILLE SMITH
Live: Fairview in West Birmingham
Married: July 20, 1970
Met: July 1969, over the phone. Alfonso had been a widower for a year after losing his wife to a brain aneurysm when his late wife’s sister, Willie-Chrissy Williams, contacted Lucille, who was a divorcee. Lucille, who was the ‘neighborhood insurance lady’, remembered the conversation this way:
“[Willie-Chrissy] called me and said Alfonso wanted to talk to me, so I thought he wanted to buy some insurance. And then she called me the next night and said, ‘he likes you’, and I said, ‘he don’t know me to like me’ and then Alfonso called the [following night],” Lucille said. The two talked and. “…he said he wasn’t looking for a new wife, he just wanted to meet a nice Christian woman. And then he started dating me and changed his mind [about dating],” she laughed.
First date: The following weekend in late July after that call. They went to see a karate movie they can’t remember.
While Alfonso doesn’t recollect the name of the movie, he does remember “Lucille was good-looking to me, and I thought she was a person I could grow to love,” he said.
Lucille said, “I remember Alfonso being quiet. He was in the church, and I remember him needing somebody to help him take care of all those children [his four remaining minor children],” Lucille laughed. “I was [apprehensive] on that date because I was thinking about that.”
The turn: For Alfonso, “I started getting serious on the first date, I wasn’t thinking about nobody else,” he said. For Lucille, the turn came “when he started talking about getting married, that’s when I started taking him serious. That was almost a year later,” she said.
The proposal: July 1970 over the phone. “The only thing I remember is calling her and asking her if she will marry me, and she said ‘yes’, she didn’t hesitate,” Alfonso said.
Lucille remembers it differently. I said, ‘I thought you weren’t looking for a wife…’ and then I changed my mind and said, ‘yes’,” she laughed.
The wedding: At Lucille’s niece’s apartment in North Birmingham. Their wedding colors were green and pink and was officiated by the Rev. William Hamilton of First Baptist Church Ensley. Lucille wanted to note that her daughter, Celeste Williams, was her maid of honor, age 12 at the time, and her son, Cedric Williams, was Alfonso’s best man, age 18 at the time.
Most memorable for the bride was her sisters in attendance. “My two older sisters came from Detroit, Michigan, and I was happy about that,” said Lucille.
Most memorable for the groom was his joy. “I was a very happy man because I was marrying a [very] beautiful lady,” Alfonso said.
They honeymooned in Orlando, Florida. “It was short and sweet,” Lucille said.
Words of wisdom: “I always pray to the Lord, and the Lord kept both of us together despite all the transitions and things we went through, and I thank the Lord for bringing us from the first time we met to our 50th anniversary,” Alfonso said.
Lucille said she didn’t have “words of wisdom” but did want to say. “When we married, we had seven children in the house, three of mine, and four of his. He worked two jobs, and I worked three jobs because I had to take care of the house and the children and work. And by the time he got home, we didn’t have time to do nothing but go to bed. On Saturdays we worked around the house and on Sundays we got up and went to Sunday school. We didn’t have any energy to fight and that served us well,” Lucille laughed.
Happily ever after: The Smiths attend First Baptist Church in Ensley, where Alfonso serves as a deacon and Lucille a deaconess who taught Sunday School for 20 years. They are a blended family with 12 adult children, three of whom have passed away. Asked the number of grandchildren and great grands they have, Alfonso said, “We have more than we can keep count of.”
Lucille, 93, is a Selma, Alabama, native, and attended A.H. Parker High School. She graduated from Ruth Polo Beauty School in Birmingham with a cosmetology license and worked for Booker T. Washington Insurance Co. for 20 years.
Alfonso, 93, is an Ensley native, and A.H. Parker High School grad. He served in the U.S. Army for two years in the engineering department. He worked for EBSCO Industry for 33 years as the assistant warehouse supervisor, Birmingham Cable as a warehouse supervisor for 10 years, and Auto Electric, delivering automobile parts until he retired at 88.
“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.
