Matters of the Heart: High school sweethearts Terry and Dianne Outwater share a longtime married life
by Diane Rockall
The love story of Terry and Dianne (Reynolds) Outwater had an uncertain and rather painful beginning.
The couple met at Stockbridge High School, where they happened to have adjacent lockers. One day, Dianne accidentally closed her locker and caught Terry’s fingers in the door.
Terry then asked her out on a date. She hesitated, but her good friend, Martha Johnson, said, “Go ahead. It’s not like you’re going to marry him.”
“The rest is history,” Dianne said.
The couple went to a movie theater in Chelsea because Dianne’s mother didn’t want her daughter to go as far as Jackson with a boy she didn’t know.
Dianne grew up on the Reynolds farm in Stockbridge Township. Terry lived in Wayne, Mich., until the age of 12 when his family moved to a home near Gregory. Both Terry and Dianne are 1963 graduates of Stockbridge High School.
When the day of their nuptials arrived, all did not go exactly as planned.
“Our wedding day, for starters, was really horrible weather!” Dianne said. “There was rain, sleet and snow all day.”
The two married at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Pinckney (the old St. Mary’s in town). Dianne arrived late for the ceremony because her dad wasn’t certain of the way to the church.
But all went well after arrival. A reception followed at the Stockbridge American Legion Hall.
The Outwaters have two children, Michelle and Mark, and they have three grandchildren: Katelyn, now a student at Siena Heights; Nathaniel lives and works in Stockbridge; and Cory who with his wife Symantha has the couple’s sole great grandchild, Amelia.
Now that Terry and Dianne are retired, they love to travel and have taken many wonderful vacations through the years, including a recent trip to Hawaii. They also share a love for gardening and it is a hobby they enjoy together.
They believe a strong marriage has three basic needs: love, respect and communication.
