BY JE’DON HOLLOWAY-TALLEY | Special to the Birmingham Times
ANITA AND FLOYD PATTON
Live: Trussville
Married: Aug. 6, 1988
Met: Summer 1983, at Floyd’s grandmother’s home in Norwood. Their church was holding a tent meeting outside the apartment building, which is where Anita’s sister lived. Anita was also best friends with Floyd’s aunt, Susan.
“I was young. I might’ve been about 16, and my parents were very strict so I couldn’t have boyfriends, but I called myself sneaking and dating Floyd,” Anita said. “And my sister lived in the same apartments as Floyd’s grandmother and aunt, so I would ask to spend the night over there so I could see him because we called ourselves going together.” Despite Anita’s efforts to see Floyd they were too few and far in between for him.
“He broke up with me because I could never see him…,” recalled Anita. “I was raised Apostolic Pentecostal, and my daddy did not play. Anytime we would be on the phone my daddy would unplug it,” she said, “so, he broke up with me and that broke my heart, but my sister said, ‘if you love something, set it free and if it comes back it’s yours, and it it doesn’t it never was.’”
A few years passed but Anita, who was now allowed to date, had a grudge against Floyd for breaking her heart. Around the same time, his family survived a house fire, and Susan, Floyd’s aunt and her best friend, encouraged Anita to offer support. “I didn’t, I was still mad, and a few weeks later I saw him broken down on the side of the highway [and didn’t stop to help]. I slowed down enough to make sure he saw me, but I passed him right on by,” she said.
“I used to buy or pick up busted cars and flip them and sell them, and I was test driving a car I was working on and it broke down, so when I saw her pass me by, I wasn’t thinking about it, I was trying to get that car off the highway,” Floyd said.
After that, Floyd started calling Anita’s house hoping to reconcile. “I was ignoring his calls, but afterwhile, my mom said I need to call him back and see what he was talking about. I did, and I told him if he really wanted to see me, he had to come to church,” said Anita.
“When she said I had to come to church [at Greater Emmanuel Temple Holiness Church], it wasn’t a problem; I told her I would come and I did,” said Floyd.
First date: At Anita’s parents’ home in Bush Hills Ensley. Although Anita was 18, her parents were still strict.
“Her mama had left and went to a missionary meeting at the church, and when she came in the house and saw my arm around Anita’s shoulders, she snatched my arm down so hard she [nearly] broke it; I should have called the police right then,” Floyd said. “I went through a lot to date Anita.”
Before her mother came home, Anita said the night was going well. “We sat there and looked at movies, and I had three brothers under me and they weren’t used to me having company so they kept on [patrolling] but I didn’t pay them any mind, I was just happy Floyd was there,” Anita said.
The turn: In 1986 after Floyd got baptized at Anita’s home church, Greater Emmanuel Temple Holiness Church in Birmingham. That step made her parents more comfortable with them dating. “My daddy asked him what his intentions were, and he told him that he knew he was going to marry me. And that’s when I started taking him more seriously too,” Anita said.
For Floyd, it was once he joined the church. “She started inviting me over to their house to eat dinner, and she fixed me a plate, and her daddy came home and asked me if I bought any groceries,” said Floyd. “But I’ve always been the type of person to go after what I want. I had my mind set on it and I was going to marry her no matter what.”
The proposal: Christmas 1986, at Anita’s parents’ home in Bush Hills, Ensley. Anita recalls her gifts from him: “He bought me a flat screen TV, and I thought that was it, but I should have known something because my daddy was standing around watching. And then, Floyd got on one knee and pulled out a ring and asked me to marry him, and before I could say ‘yes,’ my brothers came in the room hollering ‘yes’, because they were ready for me to go,” Anita laughed.
“It [the proposal] went pretty smoothly, but I kind of felt a little funny because [my brothers] were peeping around the corner and everybody was jumping up and down excited because she was [going to be] leaving the house and that made me wonder what I had gotten myself into,” Floyd said. “But I couldn’t back out, I gave her the ring, but I didn’t know what to think. And when we went out to eat to celebrate, her mama said, ‘you don’t know what you got yourself into, are you sure?’ and that’s the one time I think I lied because I said ‘yes’ … But, I was ready to get out the streets and raise a family.”
The wedding: At Greater Emmanuel, officiated by its pastor, Bishop Jose Perry. Their colors were fuchsia and white.
Most memorable for the bride was, “the amount of people that were there, it was almost standing room only … at the time, I was working for UAB and I had invited a lot of people but you never really know if they’re going to show, and we ended up having a nice big crowd.”
Most memorable for the groom was cutting the cake at the reception. “…that was the best part, and it was also a nice picture,” he said.
For the honeymoon, they spent a few nights at a hotel on U.S. 31 in Vestavia Hills. “It was an amazing consummation, that night was everything that I dreamed it would be,” Anita said.
Words of wisdom: “Take pictures, travel, and do things together, it helps keep the marriage strong. And when you can look back at the pictures and relive those memories it’s a wonderful thing,” said Floyd.
“Stay in the fight. We’re in a society now where people don’t want to fight for marriages anymore. Even if you gotta go to another room, don’t leave your home. My parents told me and all my siblings when we got married. ‘We have an open door, but not a revolving door. Don’t come running back here every time you get mad, you stay home and you talk and work it out.’,” Anita said. “So, stay in the fight and communicate, your spouse can’t read your mind and you can’t read theirs. Be each other’s best friend and confidant and be there to protect each other.”
Happily ever after: The Pattons have three adult daughters, Jameria, Jamecia, and Jamiyah Patton ages 32-23, and three grandchildren: Journee, K’ior, and Kenzo.
Anita, 57, is a Bush Hills [Ensley] native, and Ensley Magnet High School grad. She attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham [UAB] where she earned a certification in Data Entry Clerical. Anita works for the Birmingham Police Department as a latent fingerprint examiner.
Floyd, 60, is a Norwood native, a Phillips High School grad, and retired after 27 years from Birmingham Water Works in 2019 as a utility truck driver.
“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.
