Couple lost each other, found each other

Raymond and Eugina “Gina” Price went out in high school. Then they broke up.

They found each other again, but wondered whether they belonged together.

Then Cupid’s arrow struck, because an 18-wheeler struck.

As of March 22, Raymond and Gina will be celebrating 20 years of marriage.

They met at Morgan City High School in 1980. He was a sophomore, and she was a freshman.

Their friends, Marilyn Anslem Bell and Thomas “Bubba” King, introduced them to each other as dates for a homecoming dance.

The two hit it off and attended the homecoming dance together.

“Raymond was my very first boyfriend,” Gina said. “I was his very first girlfriend.”

Coincidentally, Raymond and Gina’s family members already knew each other as neighbors, and their siblings liked to hang out together. But before the homecoming dance, Raymond and Gina never connected.

Then, after a year of dating, Gina decided to end the relationship.

Her friends were having fun and enjoying their youth. She felt as if she was missing out on all the fun.

She “didn’t want to be tied down,” Gina said. “But we always remained friends.”

After high school, Raymond and Gina married other people. He married first.

Before Raymond’s first marriage, Gina made an attempt to reconnect during one of the Shrimp and Petroleum festivals. But Raymond’s younger brother didn’t relay a message.

Gina saw Raymond at the festival with another lady. So, she decided it was not meant to be.

Raymond’s first marriage lasted five years. Gina was married to her first husband for two years. She remained single for three years.

At the time, Gina lived in New Orleans, while Raymond lived in Morgan City.

One day, Gina’s mother and Raymond ran into each other at McDonald’s. While he was picking up breakfast, Raymond informed her mother that he was headed to the courthouse in Franklin to get a divorce.

Before Raymond could get out of McDonald’s, her mom called Gina.

Her response: “Oh my God Mama, I sure hope you gave him my phone number,” Gina said.

Both Raymond and Gina’s mothers would suggest periodically the two of them should have married each other .

“It was kind of like an inner family joke,” Raymond said.

Gina reached out to Raymond. The two reconnected over the phone.

Raymond, a fireman at the time, was preparing for his upcoming vacation. It was between Christmas 1995 and two weeks in January 1996.

He asked Gina to go on vacation with him. She agreed to go.

The two used the time get reacquainted. They traveled to Niagara Falls, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

“We slept in separate beds and never kissed,” Raymond said.

At one point, Raymond felt there was no connection.

“I had made up my mind this isn’t working out,” Raymond said. “She’s just not the same person.

“I think she figured out the same thing. I could not get home fast enough to drop her off in New Orleans and said I’ll never see her again.”

Gina felt the same way. But, she admits, the damage from the first marriage had taken its toll.

“I had my wall up,” Gina said. “I wasn’t going to let anyone take me through what I had been through even if we’d known each other for 10 years.”

Heading back to Louisiana, the two left Gatlinburg. While driving through Daphne, Alabama, they encountered a bad storm.

An 18-wheeler pushed Raymond’s truck across the median and into some trees. His truck was totaled .

Gina had to be cut out from the truck. Her ankle was broken.

Raymond suffered minor injuries.

They contacted their parents to let them know about the accident. It occurred while their parents were attending the Knight of Mardi Gras AARP Ball.

As Gina laid on the gurney being checked out by hospital personnel, Raymond began to cry.

Gina looked at him in amazement.

“Oh my God, he really cares,” Gina said. “He really cares about me. And that wall just dropped. After that, I just could not get enough of him.”

Gina believes her eyes were opened .

“I think God had a plan,” Gina. “The wreck was pretty serious.”

“Yeah, we could have died,” Raymond said. “My truck plowed trees, and we were 50 feet from a ravine.”

With the seriousness of the wreck, God “had a way of opening my eyes and making me realize you’re supposed to be with this man,” Gina said.

Returning to Louisiana after the wreck, the couple married a few months later at the home of Raymond’s parents.

Raymond and Gina are the parents of one son, Scott, 15.