25 years later, couple still in tune with one another
By GLORIA ALVAREZ
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
Mary Ann and Howard Alexander's story sounds like a romance novel: boy and girl meet, boy and girl overcome obstacles, boy and girl live happily ever after. In an era when 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, they're still together after 25 years.
"They said it wouldn't last," Mary Ann said with a laugh.
Fittingly, that's the title of the memoir they're now writing, recounting their years on the road as "The Black Redneck," Howard's country music stage persona.
Howard is black. Mary Ann is white. They met and married when racial equality was still a dream in large parts of this country. And yet their own experience has been entirely different.
"We never had problems with racism," Howard said. "Most people are colorblind."
Which is not to say they haven't had their problems.
Like the time they were living on the road, pulling their RV from gig to gig. The company they'd hired to handle their bills while they out neglected to pay those bills, and their vehicle and RV were repossessed.
Suddenly they were homeless in Atlanta, far from Texas and family.
"Everyone thinks it can�t happen to them," Mary Ann said. "All we had were the clothes on our back."
The first night they slept on cement blocks behind an abandoned building, and they were terrified. They rented a storage unit so they could change clothes and took sponge baths in public restrooms.
Two months later, they proved that they hadn't defaulted and got their Suburban back.
"It wasn't pleasant, but God brought us out of it," Mary Ann said.
Their faith has been a hallmark of their relationship.
The very day Mary Ann Stephens met Howard Anderson, she had prayed for a husband. Anderson says he'd also prayed for a wife.
"I'd had my car worked on the day before," Mary Ann said. She was on the highway taking her mother to the doctor. "My hood just flew up and turned so I couldn't get it down."
Panicked, she wrote "Help" on a cardboard tablet.
"Less than a minute later, Howard pulled up in a white van and came over to help us," she said.
He fastened down the hood and said a prayer with them.
Mary Ann's mother began to feel better, and Mary Ann and Howard exchanged phone numbers.
He said he'd meet Mary Ann later to go to the junkyard and get her a new hood.
"He proposed that day," Mary Ann said.
They married 3 months later.
In a tribute to their love , the manager of their honeymoon hotel in Galveston offered them their room for free. Later, Mary Ann embroidered and framed the "Help" sign; it still hangs on the wall of their home.
Mary Ann became Howard's booking agent, manager and road crew. He played places like Gillys; he opened for Larry Gatlin; he got write-ups in Country Music magazine.
He had a recording contract, and his "till a Wanted Man" charted here in the U.S and even higher in Great Britain and Europe. He's been booked to play the White House twice.
"My wife is a born producer," Howard said. "She makes things happen."
She got him a gig playing for the Pope in San Antonio in 1987. The Pope's entertainment schedule had been filled for months when Mary Ann called, but there was a cancellation, and Howard was in.
Their entire life has been like that, they say, being in the right place at the right time, with the right people to give them a hand.
Even when Mary Ann had a serious heart attack six years ago, people were there to help: someone with a cell phone to call the ambulance, a registered nurse to keep her comfortable while the paramedics arrived.
They live a quiet life now in Traders Village in Cy-Fair. They're working on their memoirs, and Howard still writes songs and works on his Web site www.geocities.com/redneckbro1.
He doesn't perform as much because of Mary Ann's health, but if the right gig came along, he probably would.
Mostly they're just grateful for their loving life together and the chance to make music and laughter for a quarter of a century.
If you have a suggestion for a Faces in the Crowd profile, contact Gus Morgan at [email protected] or send a fax to 713-362-7552.
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