The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC

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September 17, 2009

Nothing could stop Brett and Lane from getting married

W. TERRY SMITH

It was the best of times and the worst of times for Lane Anderson.

The day had finally arrived for the Tarboro woman’s marriage to Brett Taylor.

Her sister Lawson was in from Atlanta. Her grandparents, her godmother from Illinois and others were in town.

The only trouble was, Hurricane Floyd had arrived a couple days earlier and left much of Edgecombe County under water.

It left her parents, Tommy and Lawson Anderson miles away in Leggett.

Her father tried to find a route, up to Rich Square, over to Scotland Neck, but was stymied time after time. There was just too much water.

Brent and Sylvia Nash offered to go get them in a john boat, but had to turn back.

“It was one of the prettiest days we had had,” Tommy recalled. “The weather was beautiful, but there were islands everywhere. There was no way to get there from here.”

“Lane’s wedding dress was in Leggett,” said her mother, Lawson.

Lane remembers standing at Long Tractor on Main Street and crying.

“I lost it,” she said. “I was bawling.”

That’s when Brett looked at her and said, “All I know is I want to marry you.”

It was what Lane needed to hear and she quickly composed herself and headed toward Calvary Episcopal Church.

“A calm came over me,” she said.

About 100 people waded in ankle-deep water down Church and surrounding streets. Many came in barefooted. The water never actually got into the church.

There was no power, so the choir held candles.

“It was beautiful,” Lane said. “The sun through the stained glass windows was beautiful.

“Brett was in shorts and a t-shirt. I had on my grandmother’s pearls and lipstick.”

She wore a pair of rolled up overalls.

The Rev. Bill Smyth had performed dozens of weddings in his 17 years at Calvary, “but that certainly is the most memorable … An extraordinary day,” he said, laughing.

Lane’s grandfather walked her down the aisle.

Tommy gave his daughter away via cell phone.

The caterer called and asked what he should do with the pounds of shrimp ordered for the reception.

Buckets full of flowers waited under tents in the Anderson yard. The couple and some friends made it to Raleigh where there was a party that night.

“We had a reception nine months later,” Lane said. “I wore my wedding dress then.”

The couple makes their home in Charlotte where she teaches kindergarten and he is a homebuilder. They have a son, Statton, 7, and a daughter, Jordan, 6.

“It was the way it was meant to be,” Lane said. “It was most important for us to be together.”

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