BY JE’DON HOLLOWAY-TALLEY | Special to the Birmingham Times
REGINA & GARY WILLIAMS
Live: Pleasant Grove
Married: Aug. 9, 2008
Met: March 2007, at New Bethlehem Baptist Church in Bessemer. Both were active members of the church but had never spoken beyond exchanging niceties.
Gary said he first noticed Regina one Sunday when she was making the announcements “and I was thinking ‘wow, she talks a lot,” Gary laughed. “And then I joined the security team and was put on the detail by the finance office and she was on the finance team, so I would see her a lot and she piqued my interest. But it took me two years to get up the nerve to ask her if she would like to go to dinner with me.”
“I didn’t know he had been watching me for two years, and then all of a sudden he approached me one Sunday and asked me out on a date; I was shocked,” Regina laughed. “I’d known of him and seen him around the church, but we’d never once held a conversation. Sure, we’ve spoken, said ‘hello’, but that was it.”
Regina said ‘yes’ to his date but wasn’t feeling very well so she invited him back to her house to walk the neighborhood.
First date: The same day, at Regina’s house in Pleasant Grove. Gary arrived in fresh athleisure wear, ready for his walk.
“He got there and we walked the neighborhood and had an interesting conversation. We pretty much hit it off right away. We really did talk a lot, we walked for about two hours,” Regina said.
“That conversation let me know she was somebody I really wanted to get to know,” said Gary.
The turn: March 2007. “For me, it was right off the bat because after that first date, I knew he was who I wanted to marry, and that was weird because I said I was never getting married,” Regina said.
“Same for me,” Gary said. “It’s not too often that you meet someone and have the same interests and the same goals in mind. It was refreshing.”
The proposal: November 2007 in Regina’s driveway at her home in Pleasant Grove. Gary and Regina were on the way to one of Gary’s friends’ weddings when he decided to propose.
“I was actually going to propose to her on Christmas, but my mom spilled the beans early and started telling everybody,” Gary said. “And [the day I proposed] I had just come from picking up the ring, and I was coming to get her so that we could head to the wedding … and she came on out the house to get in the car. But when I saw her, I got out of the car and met her in her driveway, got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.”
“I wasn’t surprised, I knew it was coming at some point and I was relieved that (it) had,” Regina said. “The ring was very nice, I was very excited.”
The wedding: New Bethlehem Baptist Church in Bessemer, officiated by Regina’s father, the Rev. Jesse Vann, and also her uncle William H. Walker, the church’s pastor. Regina’s and Gary’s colors were lavender and green.
Most memorable for the bride was “seeing two families joining together. We all get along well, there’s not a single bad bone between anybody on either side and I knew our union was going to work out just fine,” Regina said.
Most memorable for the groom was a slip up the father of the bride made during their nuptials. “When her dad said, ‘Do you, Gary Coleman, take Regina to be your lawfully wedded wife?’ and the whole church fell out laughing. He didn’t mean to do it, and he didn’t even catch that he called me [prominent 1970s child star] Gary Coleman until the church started laughing,” said Gary.
They honeymooned in Turks and Caicos. “It was a beautiful island, but we stayed at an expensive hotel that was crappy. And Gary thought he was doing something because the hotel was so expensive, but it was terrible. He didn’t read the reviews,” Regina laughed.
“Yeah, she doesn’t let me pick hotels anymore,” Gary said.
Words of wisdom: “Keep God first and make Him the head of your marriage. And just remember as the head of the house, always take care of your wife. Do everything you can to make her comfortable and love on her as much as you can,” Gary said.
“Always stay attractive to each other, and you’ll never leave each other. I go out of my way to dress my man how I want him to look, with his sexy self,” Regina said. “That way I keep my eyes on my own man, and he keeps his eyes on his own wife because I make sure I keep it together.”
Happily ever after: The Williams attend New Bethlehem Baptist Church in Bessemer where Regina serves as chairperson of the budget and finance team, and co-chairs the personnel board, and Gary serves as co-chair of the security team and is a Deacon.
Regina, 54, is a Dolemite native, and attended Pleasant Grove High School until her junior year but graduated from P.D. Jackson Olin High School. She attended the University of Alabama where she earned a B.S. in social work, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham where she obtained a B.S. in criminal justice. Regina owns and operates a construction company, Vann WIlliams Construction in Pleasant Grove.
Gary, 57, is a Bessemer native, and McAdory High School grad. He attended Jefferson State Community College where he earned an associate’s degree in business management, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he earned a B.S. in financial management. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., and retired from Delta Airlines in 2020, after 32 ½ years, and continues his work as a subrogation specialist with Kemper Insurance Company, where he’s also been employed for 27 years.
“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.
