A Love of Music & Mountains

Written By: Marlene Osteen | Issue: Winter - 2023 | Photograph By: Mary Gilian

Tonya and Ron Hensley

She was recently divorced, parent of a 10-year-old daughter, and was there with a friend.  He was single, two years parted from a 4-year-long relationship, and on a date. It was the first time Ron Hensley glimpsed his future wife, Tonya.

It was November 1992, and they were at JR’s 92 Showcase near Lakeland, FL.  The place was crowded with folks’ line-dancing to the music of Brooks & Dunn.  Like the rest of the crowd at that honkytonk, they were dressed in their western best – him in Wrangler jeans and cowboy boots; her in a neon bright pink shirt with black fringe, black jeans, and black boots. 

They chatted briefly, he introduced her to his best friend, and left. But something that first night had clicked. For weeks Ron returned to the club looking for her, hoping she would return.  One day she did, and when she saw him was quick to ask, “Where’s your girlfriend?”  He responded, telling her, “We broke up 2 weeks ago.”  

They had their first dance to the Bryan Adams’ hit song, Everything I Do, I Do It For You. The lyrics later became the mantra for their life together. As Tonya told me, “Those words were prophetic.  Ron still frequently tells me that everything he does, he does for me.”

That night they talked and talked some more – finally escaping to the quiet of his truck. Tonya talked about her daughter, about her administrative job, about being in college, pursuing a degree in education. He told her about working as a physical therapy technician, and that although he had a teaching degree, there was a hiring freeze in the school system in Polk County, Florida, where they lived.  They shared their aspirations for life and realized things they had in common – a love of music, dance, travel, and the mountains.  And they discovered that they both had a history of family visits to Ron’s birthplace in the North Carolina mountains.  

Two nights later they had their first official date at a popular steakhouse in Lakeland, The Red Barn. The conversation flowed, the sparks flamed and flew. They were so enamored with one another that they didn’t realize that by the time they stopped chatting, the restaurant had emptied.  

Though Ron admitted to being wowed by Tonya’s beauty, he was no less captivated by her approachability, the depth of her intelligence and her thoughtfulness. For Tonya, it was an attraction fueled by the confidence she saw in him; his “nice guy persona,” the ease with which she could talk to him.  Though she did not fail to observe that “He was adorable and had really nice pecs and biceps.”

The relationship was easy from the start. “It’s not difficult when you know it’s right.  We knew within a few months we would get married,” Ron said. 

But Tonya’s daughter had made her mom promise that she and Ron would be together for a year before they wed.  Shortly before she and Ron met, Tonya had been on a family trip to Gatlinburg and saw what she described as “the teeniest, tiniest wedding chapel”.  She told her mom that if she ever remarried, it would be there. And so it was that Tonya and Ron exchanged their vows in that chapel in early 1994.

Much has happened in the nearly three decades since that wedding. Tonya gave birth to two more daughters, in 1995 and 1998, and they now have four grandchildren. At the end of 1996, the couple decided to carve a new adventure for their family, and they packed their belongings into a Penske truck and moved to Western North Carolina. Tonya went back to college and got a bachelor’s and then a master’s degree at Western North Carolina.  She worked at the Old Creek Lodge in Highlands, a gig she now describes as “best job ever,” accepted a management position at Old Edwards, moved on to employment as an adult educator, and then as an executive at an area non-profit.  

Ron and Tonya Hensley, 1994

Ron, who had returned to teaching while still in Florida, taught fourth grade, middle school and adult education in area schools for 15 years.  

In the early 2000’s, they both got North Carolina real estate licenses, and today they are partners in business as well as in love – both working for Landmark Realty Group in Cashiers.

Their marriage has thrived thanks to an enduring commitment to each other. Ron attributes it to their ability to communicate.  

“We make the other person feel they are being listened to.” Tonya agrees, “We always put the other’s feelings above our own, and it works for us because we both do that.”