Monticello Live

We’ve enjoyed bringing you the One Monticello Life feature each Sunday. During the month of February, we will be featuring four different couples, from four different eras. We felt this would be an interesting twist for this Valentine’s month! The theme will be Together for Life.

JB & Amy Duncan met as college students at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. They both attended the Baptist Collegiate Ministry and became involved there. Although the saw each other often, their first “date” came by accident.

Several of their friends went bowling one evening and had planned to meet afterwards at the movies. However, upon arrival at the theater, JB found that Amy was the only one present, and vice versa. They proceeded to the movie together, and after the show, JB asked Amy, “So, what are we doing tomorrow night?” This began an interesting courtship.

For six weeks after the night at the movies, JB & Amy were together just like any other dating couple, but their courtship had begun during the Iraq war. When JB was 17, he had joined the Army National Guard and committed to serve his country. However, he admits that he mainly joined for the college money offered.

Four days before Valentine’s Day, JB was called up to serve in Iraq. He spent two months at Fort Polk, Iowa for mobilization training. Their physical separation, however, did not keep JB and Amy from connecting with one another. They continued their relationship by talking daily on their cell phones. They both realized that their relationship was becoming more significant.

In March, JB had a weekend pass to go home. Although only a month away from deployment, he knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Amy. During the weekend, JB asked Amy to marry him on his knees while on a nature trail at Cane Creek. Amy excitedly accepted, although she knew the details of a wedding would be overshadowed by the war in Iraq.

JB left for his service assignment in April 2003, engaged but unsure of how long his term would be. He was a motor transport operator who escorted convoys. His job was to protect the trucks that carried U.S. Postal mail from troop to troop.

His busy schedule did not keep him from writing Amy everyday. Amy also was busy writing daily. It took 2-3 weeks for the letters to arrive in each place. They communicated by phone every two weeks. It was on a call in November 2003 that Amy and JB set the date for their wedding – the next month, on December 13.

Amy planned her Christmas wedding in a short month. After JB found out he would get to come home for several weeks, they knew this would be perfect opportunity to get married. Their Saturday wedding was held at First Baptist Church Monticello. Although Amy had only a month to plan it all, the wedding was a success.

Amy had time to buy her favorite wedding dress. Her grandmother managed to make all four bridesmaids’ dresses. Since it was Christmas time, the church was decorated with candles and poinsettias. JB and Amy even had a four-day honeymoon at Big Cedar Lodge.

Although they did not let war stop them from pursuing their dreams, it did force JB to return to Iraq for the rest of his assignment.

JB had essentially flown in to the States, gotten married and then returned to the Middle East. So the beginning of their marriage was anything but normal. They were unsure of when his service would end due to the volatility of the Iraq situation. Amy decided to sit out of school for a semester and moved back home to Warren to live with her parents and work at a bank there.

Amy and JB continued their letter-writing and talked on the phone as often as they could. They are glad that they learned early in their marriage the importance of communication. They also learned to not worry about the small things in life. It was hard for them to get stressed about everyday struggle when people were dying daily in the war.

After only three more months, JB was grateful to learn that his division was being sent home. He had completed his term of service. JB returned to Monticello, college and his new wife. They moved into married student housing at UAM.

JB is a senior majoring in speech communication, and he plans to graduate in May 2007. His goal is to return to the Army and work full time in counter terrorism.

Amy finished her bachelor of science degree in exercise science in May 2006. She currently directs the Healthy STEPs program (for senior adults) at South Arkansas Rehabilitation.

Life is now somewhat normal for this married couple, but their early years together will always be special to JB and Amy. Through love and war, they have learned commitment and are Together for Life.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 4th, 2007 at 7:30 pm and is filed under Feature: OML, Site. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.