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Amy Scherzer's diary

Heart Beat: Wedding crowns longtime romance

The marriage of these two, who have been inseparable since high school, features storybook trappings.

By AMY SCHERZER
Published August 25, 2006

SOUTH WESTSHORE

David Compton still loves to tease Laura Hardy, just like when they were in sixth grade and he chased her around the block in his go-cart.

"You were a dork," Compton ribs Hardy.

"You wore that Seahawks football jersey every day," she retorts.

Now all grown up and married, the 25-year-olds have been together since they were seniors at Plant High. They've never broken up. Never wanted to date anyone else. Neither has sought another shoulder to lean on.

"What would be the point?" Hardy asked. "In some way, it's like we were already married."

In the early 1990s, Hardy and Compton lived a block apart in Parkland Estates. She rode horses and dreamed of competing in the equestrian Olympics. He was the teacher's kid whose mom, Debbie Compton Thomas, taught math and science at Mitchell Elementary and Wilson Middle schools.

Their social circles merged in high school, although they didn't have any classes together.

"Laura took the advanced classes," said Compton, the class clown who now works as a construction site developer for Ripa & Associates. "But we still hang with that same group of friends."

Senior year began badly for Hardy. Her father, Jack Hardy, was not responding to cancer treatment. She and her boyfriend had broken up. She would have skipped homecoming if her friend Summer hadn't intervened.

"She told David that I had a huge crush on him," Hardy said. "Which I didn't."

Compton, who played defensive tackle for Plant, pursued that tip and asked her to the dance. She accepted.

They spent their second date, Nov. 7, 1998, at a friend's house. The next morning, she awoke to news that her father died of colon cancer at age 45. Their budding friendship turned into a lasting relationship as he helped her through her grief.

About the same time, Compton's parents divorced. He and his mother moved into an apartment in Hyde Park. His father, Bob, moved to San Antonio in Pasco County.

Now Hardy was his rock, getting him to open up and sort out his feelings.

"It started out so natural, it didn't even seem like dating," Compton said. "We were just ourselves."

After graduation, they separated for college. Hardy majored in English at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn. Compton started at the University of Alabama and later transferred to the University of West Alabama for a degree in industrial technology.

"We knew we were independent and secure enough to pursue what made us happy," she said. And besides, they were only three hours apart, close enough to see each other every month.

Hardy burned through a lot of Sam's Club telephone cards. "There are no cell phone towers in Sewanee."

Hardy returned from a two-month backpacking jaunt through Europe with a girlfriend to start at Stetson University College of Law. She graduates in December, with plans to practice adoption law or prosecute child abuse cases.

After years of dating Compton, Hardy's left finger itched.

The surprise was that she was surprised. She knows him "like the back of my hand," she said.

Still, she was stunned when he proposed on their seven-year "anniversary," slipping on a ring he designed.

Hardy's dream to get married in a Southern plantation was realized July 22 at the historic Sam Davis Home in Smyrna, Tenn.

Besides being a beautiful country setting, the historic farm is the birthplace of the groom's grandfather, Charles Davis. The late insurance executive served on the Florida State Fair Authority for many years, and the Special Events Center bears his name.

The bride arrived in a horse-drawn carriage. Her mother, Cheryl Hardy, wrapped a silver locket with a picture of her father around her bouquet "so he could be walking down the aisle with me," she said.

The Rev. Dabney Smith, formerly of Tampa and now of New Orleans, officiated. A longtime friend of the Hardy family, he used to play in a band with the bride's father.

The newlyweds hosted 180 guests for tours of the museum, dinner and dancing in a big white tent. They rode horses on the beach during their Costa Rica honeymoon before returning to Tampa and settling into Compton's home in South Westshore.

"Getting married just made it official," said the new Mrs. Compton. "We've been inseparable for years."

Have a wonderful wedding story to share? E-mail scherzer@sptimes.com or call 813 226-3332.

[Last modified August 24, 2006, 08:16:14]