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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It's time now for a Valentine's Day edition of StoryCorps. Bud and Jackie Jones started their life together in the 1950s. They were surrounded by three kids and countless critters - both living and stuffed. Together at their taxidermy shop in Tallapoosa, Georgia, they mounted everything from possums to a life-sized model of a mastodon. In 2018, they told their love story at StoryCorps.
BUD JONES: What do you remember about our first date?
JACKIE JONES: Well, I got in the car, and you said, now, don't get excited, Jackie, but my pet snake is loose in this car. And I'm not a snake person.
B JONES: But you toughed it out, didn't you?
J JONES: I toughed it out.
B JONES: (Laughter).
J JONES: You were a hot number for me. We dated for two years, and then we decided to elope.
B JONES: I remember you didn't want your mother and daddy to know where we were going, so you threw your clothes out the window.
J JONES: I did. And by then, it was night, and we had to go to the judge's house. And when we got there, he was drunk.
B JONES: Well, he wasn't exactly drunk. He was just kind of wobbling a little.
J JONES: Well, he was feeling real good.
B JONES: Yeah, he was feeling good.
J JONES: Well, I must've been crazy in love to go through this.
B JONES: Yeah.
J JONES: We seldom ever have an argument, but if it is, it's about something like an elephant's eye.
B JONES: She's kind of bossy, and I'll call it.
J JONES: And I admit it, but I'll say right here that you do know a lot.
B JONES: Well, I'll be. I need to record that.
J JONES: Life has not been dull with you, Bud, but it has been fun.
B JONES: I've told my family when I die I want on my tombstone to say I had a good time. And I have really had a good time, and I've had a partner all of these years that I wouldn't trade for anybody.
J JONES: Thank you.
B JONES: Thank you, Jackie, and I love you.
J JONES: I love you, too.
B JONES: I love you more than you love me.
J JONES: Oh, I don't think that's true. I love you most.
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MARTIN: After 68 years of marriage, Bud died last year. He was 94. Jackie came back to StoryCorps with her daughters to reflect on life without Bud.
J JONES: My mother said one time that she'd never seen anybody love each other like we loved each other. Some mornings, I wake up and think he's in the bed with me. People call me, and they just can't believe we don't have him here. And I said, well, he's here. He's all around me. After 68 years, how else can I feel?
CHERRY JONES: His fingerprints are all over the shop. Everywhere you turn, you're reminded who started that place. He was the best.
J JONES: I know that. I had the best of a husband. I couldn't have asked for anybody better. I got the best one. I'm just grateful that I caught him (laughter). I don't know how I got him, but I did (laughter).
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MARTIN: Jackie Jones and her daughter Cherry in Tallapoosa, Georgia. You can see a new animation of Bud and Jackie's love story at storycorps.org. Their interview is archived at the Library of Congress.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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