A Quarter Century of Cool

Written By: Marlene Osteen | Issue: 2021/03 – March

It’s been nearly a quarter of a century since JT Fields and Glenn Murer met – an encounter unwittingly engineered by JT’s roommate, Jack Austin, and his insistence they go for a drink on a January night in Atlanta.  

Snow was on the horizon for the following day.  And so it was inevitable that someone at the bar would suggest that the ensuing day of “rest” would best be served in a sledding expedition at Piedmont Park. And when it was understood that JT’s decrepit VW would not survive the snow packed roads, a ride was arranged.   

The next morning Glenn Murer honked his horn on the curb at JT’s apartment to take him to the park. Christmas carols blasted from the radio.  

JT was smitten. 

“I was 29 and at the height of trying to be cool, and here was this amazing guy, unabashed by his love for Christmas tunes, and so handsome,” he recalls.

A magnetic force traveled between them.  JT’s industrial strength energy, captivating laugh, and charming vitality equally enamored Glenn. 

A couple of rendezvous’ followed but the relationship stalled until the following September when they met once again at a party.

JT recalls regretting “that I screwed that up.”

And this time they didn’t – a year later they celebrated the first of the 25 anniversaries that followed. 

Clearly they continue to see something endearing in each other. 

Glenn speaks of JT’s honesty, integrity and his ability to “draw people in,” while JT remains drawn to the “openness and sincerity that is in Glenn’s face.”

Between them, there is reciprocal ingenuousness, vulnerability and trust – shared traits learned during ten years of couple therapy.  

As Murer tells it, “We had a will to stay together, and we realized that no partnership is perfect and a lot of that knowledge comes with age.”  

Together they have made it through some rough periods – as  in the downturn of 2008 when Glenn’s development business suddenly became very precarious and Mountain Fresh Grocery, the business they bought at the onset of the financial crisis, was struggling to stay alive.  JT recalls that “We were in the foxhole together, funding the store depleted our entire savings.”  

Their shared passion for Highlands, a desire to become more closely affiliated with the community, and Glenn’s history as a kid growing up in a hardware store had encouraged them to buy Mountain Fresh in 2007.  

Glenn figured it would be fun and easy and that the then-manager would stay on to run the store. It didn’t take long before they realized that none of that would be the case. The manager quit, and the demands of a hardware store were far different from those of a grocery with its perishable inventory. 

JT went to Highlands to do damage control, but as Glenn says “the mess kept getting bigger.”

It was 11 years before JT could depart for good. They acknowledge that the experience of “turning the store around (which occurred in the third year and with the help of their new partner, Don Reynolds); and the years of distancing only solidified the relationship.  They share a pride in the eventual success of the store, and of the symbol it became as the center of the community spirit of Highlands. 

They were married in 2017, appreciating “we were going to be together for the duration.”

They like to think of themselves as “conventional.” Although with residences in Highlands, Atlanta, and San Miguel de Allende, they clearly are not.  

Still, as JT sums it up, “At the end of the day, we are happiest in our pajamas watching an English murder mystery. The boring parts have at last become the best parts.”