Married: 9 years
Career Paths: Nell is working as a development director for a statewide public interest law firm and continues to perform at the Hippodrome Theatre. Kevin is an actor at Disney currently playing the role of director in the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular.
Resides: Gainesville, Florida
Meet Cute: At UF while studying theatre
Relationship Advice:
-Have fun finding new ways to express your love for each other
-Continue to discover yourself so that you bring more to the relationship
-Don’t underestimate the value of listening
-Show up and be each other’s biggest fan
Kevin and Nell met at UF’s School of Theatre + Dance in 1975. He was the leading man at the time and she was working backstage. They were always friends, but both were dating other people and ended up marrying different people.
Years later, Kevin and Nell worked together at the Hippodrome where they played lovers and husband and wife. “Kevin was always so much fun,” recalls Nell. Through a series of events both Kevin and Nell divorced from their respective spouses and Kevin moved out to California. He had heard that Nell was recently single, so when he moved back to Orlando, he called her one day out of the blue. “I didn’t know he was divorced and thought he was calling me to ask about theatre-related things. I didn’t think much of it.”
Then, about a year later, Nell’s aunt in Orlando asked her to see a show. The actor in the show reminded her of Kevin. After the show Nell talked with the actor who mentioned that he worked with Kevin at Disney. In the next couple of days, the actor went back to Disney and told Kevin there was woman at his show who said hello, but couldn’t remember Nell’s name. Kevin went on a quest for months to figure out who this mystery woman was.
Months later, Nell was in a play in Gainesville and Kevin came to see it. They ended up on the steps of the Hippodrome talking until 2 a.m. After years of friendship, the timing was finally right. “It felt different to see Kevin in a new light,” says Nell. “He had always been my buddy; we had already shared so much of our lives together.”
They started seeing each other and got married a year and a half later.
“I love that we share a passion for theatre,” says Nell. “Theatre is challenging understand if you are not involved in it. People in theatre are orators and tell the stories of humankind. I appreciate being able to share that passion with Kevin.”
Nell’s connection back to the UF School of Theatre + Dance came when she became part of UF’s Friends of Theatre + Dance group after being invited by Star Bradbury. “I was a scholarship student at UF, and I knew how important that was for me and wanted to give back,” says Nell who served on the board until she got her current job as a development director. She stepped away for a little while, but she is now back serving on the board, a position that she says she loves.
