BY JE’DON HOLLOWAY-TALLEY | Special to the Birmingham Times
ARVETRICE ‘VET’ WADE-JONES & LUCIUS JONES SR.
Live: Pleasant Grove
Married: April 14, 2019
Met: Summer 2004, at the City of Birmingham’s Public Works division, where they both worked in the Environmental Code Enforcement department as clerks. Vet had already been there when Lucius came on as a temp before becoming a permanent employee. They worked together for more than 10 years before they began dating, as both were married to other people.
“Whenever she had car trouble at work, she would call me and say hey, ‘where are you at? I need a jump’, Lucius laughed.
By 2018, Lucius had been working in the zoning department while Vet was still in environmental code enforcement. At this point, both were divorced when they remembered a conversation that sparked their potential romance.
“We were on the phone from our separate departments just talking and she asked me what I was looking for in a woman, and I told her I wanted a God-fearing woman that would want to spend time with me and around me… and I turned around and asked her the same question and her [response] was about the same as mine,” Lucius said. “Our previous marriages kinda helped decide what we didn’t want, and what we did want.”
“I was shocked [on that call] because I wasn’t expecting the conversation to go there. I used to tease him when we worked together in the same department because he always used to pick with me, and I would tell him you’re like the brother I wish I never had,” Vet laughed. “We were close from working together so I knew him pretty well, but I thought I gotta make sure his goals and what he wants matches up with what I want, and it did.”
First date: August 2018, they went to lunch at El Capidor, a Mexican restaurant in Crestwood.
“The first thing she said was ‘you know I’m allergic to fish, right?’, and I said ‘you know I know you’re allergic to seafood!’,” Lucius laughed. “I had to make sure he wasn’t trying to kill me off,” Vet joked.
Lucius said he wasn’t nervous about the date at all. “I was comfortable with her, and I just looked at it as it like it was something different and new. It was the start of a new relationship, and we were just trying to break the ice,” he said.
“I actually had a good time. I enjoyed the food and conversation and discovered a few things that I didn’t know about him because all I knew was the ‘work’ him. But [their established friendship] made it a little easier getting to know him on a personal level,” Vet said.
The turn: September 2018. “I referee little league football, and she had an incident where her car got hit while she was at her son’s football game, and I was in the middle of refereeing a game myself so I couldn’t leave to help her… and the damage was so bad that she couldn’t drive it home and she was concerned about how she would get to work and get the kids to their morning drop off spots, and I offered to get up early and take her to drop her kids off and get her to work,” Lucius said. “And I did that until her insurance got her in a rental, and that was when we realized we were in a relationship and were being there for each other and adding to each other.”
Vet said, “And in November 2018, I had a surgery and it went the opposite way of what we expected and I was in the ICU, and he and my mom were taking turns helping with the kids and being at the hospital, and one day I woke up and realized I was really looking a mess in that hospital bed and I told my mama, he really does love me. I’m sitting up here looking a mess and he ain’t left me,” she laughed.
The proposal: December 2018, at Vet’s home in Pleasant Grove. “I brought the ring with me to Vet’s house and while she wasn’t looking, I put the ring in the drawer where she keeps [miscellaneous things]. Then I started acting like I was trying to fix something in her bathroom and told her to go get me a tool from that drawer, and I had the ring sitting on top where she couldn’t miss it. I expected her to find it and come right back to me, but she didn’t,” Lucius laughed. “So, I’m just standing there waiting, and now I’m wondering what’s going on, did she find it or did she run? So I peeped around to where she was, and she was just sitting on the end of her bed looking at the ring, and I said, ‘Hey… will you marry me’, and she said ‘yes’.”
“I was in shock and trying to figure out how he pulled this one over on me,” Vet laughed. “I wasn’t expecting it at that time, so I didn’t have many words, but I did want to know was he for real or was he playing, but the look on his face said he was serious, so I said ‘yes’.”
The wedding: At 23rd Street Baptist Church, in Ensley, officiated by its pastor, Reverend James Dunn. Their colors were gold and champagne.
Most memorable for the bride was, “Us singing to each other because we did something different. Both of us sing and nobody was expecting us to sing at the wedding and we surprised everyone. It was actually fun working with Lucius to [prepare for the duet] because he was being silly at rehearsals. We sang ‘Forever Is A Long Time’, by Jason Nelson.”
Most memorable for the groom was also their duet, but he shared another fond moment. “We had a limit on how many people were supposed to be at the wedding. It was on a Sunday after church at four o’clock in the evening, and it was initially supposed to be in the pastor’s office, but over 200 people showed up,” Lucius recalled. “And I told her those were all her friends, and she told me they were all my friends” he laughed. “It wasn’t supposed to be anything big, but I guess a lot of people love us.”
As for the honeymoon: “We did a little something here at home, we just spent the week together being newlyweds” Lucius said. “And a few years later we went on a trip to the Dominican Republic.”
Words of wisdom: “Always put God first, and do your best not to argue with each other,” Vet said. “I tell people all the time, we just look at each other and walk away and give each other time to cool down… Those cool down periods work because eventually we start back talking. That may be mainly in part to me and personality because I’m going to aggravate him until he starts laughing and talking again. And always try to think of something positive about the person to keep the spark going.”
“I’ve learned that arguing doesn’t do anything but stress you so I’m not big on arguing; you should try to find common ground,” Lucius said. “And I’m never going to go to sleep mad because I feel like you never know what can happen… But my number one thing is to keep God in the marriage because I know with Him, we can get through anything. And take trips and go on dates without the kids. Getting to spend time together without the kids is important.”
Happily ever after: The Jones attend New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Bessemer, where Lucius serves as a minister and Vet in the choir. They are a blended family, with four children: Reinard Jr., 18, Lanitra, 16, and born of their union Lucius Jr., 3, and the late Aria, who passed away at 4 and a half months, due to medical complications.
Vet, 45, is an Ensley native, a Jackson Olin High School grad, and attended Alabama State University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. She is a member of the national band sorority, Tau Beta Sigma, and is a licensed cosmetologist with a salon called Mosaic Hair Gallery in Five Points West in Birmingham.
Lucius, 58, is an East Lake native, a Banks High School grad [south East Lake area, and now closed]. He attended Virginia College where he earned an associate’s degree in network engineering and works as a condemnation inspector for the City of Birmingham. Lucius has also been an Alabama high school football official for over 28 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.
