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Mall employee gets her wish with a wedding
at the mall
By BILL WHITAKER
Retired fireman Bobby Densman got married to Sharon Bush Sunday
evening, but as with most things involving Sharon the wedding
was more complicated than usual.
Which only begins to explain why they exchanged vows in the
JC Penney Courtyard at the Mall of Abilene, effectively making
Sharon, a Penney's employee, "the belle of the Mall."
This was, after all, a woman for whom time and place is important.
By her own admission, she refused to give birth to her son Jeff
in New Mexico, stubbornly insisting at the pivotal time she be
rushed 40 miles over the state line, so the child could be born
a bona fide Texan.
So when Sharon and Bobby, both of whom had been married before,
decided to get hitched, the idea of a wedding at the Mall of Abilene
just naturally came up. Bobby insisted it was a mutual decision,
but the Rev. Pete Knight pointed to Sharon as the chief culprit.
That's all right by Sharon, though.
"For one thing, the mall here has never been married in,"
Sharon told me, as if that was a mighty fine reason for getting
hitched there. "Also, we spend an awful lot of time here.
And, well, I thought it would be a wonderful thing, being able
each day to look out at the very place I got married."
Sure enough, Sharon not only works at the Mall of Abilene,
she's also a member of the mall's Heart & Sole Walking Club.
She was present at the club's first meeting six years ago.
NO ROOF RITES, PLEASE
Actually, the couple had initially planned to get married during
a Caribbean cruise but were dismayed to learn many cruise weddings
were performed and dispatched in drably routine fashion by a Florida
notary public. So they set that idea adrift. Then they rang up
the idea of getting married at the mall.
Plans called for beginning the wedding moments after the Mall
of Abilene closed for the day at 6 p.m. the Rev. Pete Knight,
who is retired but remains active in ministering to many single
adults, agreed to perform the holy rites.
"Well, it's not orthodox," Knight told me later,
"but when it's someone I know and love, I cannot do it orthodox.
And with Sharon - well, I told her I'd marry them on top of the
mall if I had to.
"Sharon is so sweet she deserves happiness."
So does Bobby, 57, who worked for the local fire department
for 28 years before retiring. Bobby, who now works in the Texas
Department of Public Safety's emergency management division, was
married 36 years before losing his wife to the dreaded disease
Lupus.
"I think Sharon's personality captured Bobby's heart,"
Shirley Archer said of the happy couple, who met New Year's Eve
1994.
"Yeah," Angela Miller chimed in, "they're both
crazy, outgoing people who enjoy life."
BOBBING FOR BUBBLES
Certainly it was another one for the record books, at least
in West Texas. After Kristi Wishmeyer sang for the happy occasion,
Jeff Bush and Joel Densman got up and did what appeared to be
a comedy routine in celebration of their parents. They also introduced
other family members.
Later, Jeff was spotted bobbing for soap bubbles.
Certainly there was a joyful air about the whole thing. When
Rev. Knight was done with the ceremony, he invited Bobby to kiss
his bride, prompting eager applause from the crowd.
Following the ceremony, I asked Sharon's demure daughter, 25-year-old
Holly Bush Parrish, if she had tried to talk her mom out of getting
married at the mall.
"Absolutely, but I would expect nothing less than this
from her," Holly said. "When we were decorating this
afternoon, people kept going by and staring. I just wanted to
say, 'Hey, this isn't me, this is not my idea.'"
Bill Whitaker, who noticed one of the wedding cakes had a decoration
of the Tasmanian Devil, can be reached at 670-5293, ext. 325.
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Copyright ©1996 or
1997, Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps. Publications
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