by Kent Jennings Brockwell
Staff Writer
When they met in 1985, he was the mayor of Jacksonville Beach and she was working for the mayor of Jacksonville. Little did they know then that their working relationship would evolve into a marriage 17 years later, but Bob and Cheri O’Neill say the timing couldn’t have been better.
Bob is now a sales executive for the Radisson and Cheri is the vice president of the Gator Bowl Association. They will have been married for three years this August.
Though the two have known each other since 1985 and have dated on and off for the past several years, both say the decision to get married later in their lives was a great decision.
“The timing was perfect,” Cheri said. “We came together at a perfect time in life and we share the same goals and we enjoy each others company. It is a perfect partnership.”
Though both had previous marriages, Bob said getting married later in life actually has made the relationship easier.
“Everybody talks about you being set in your ways but you have also learned a lot through your mistakes in the past and God knows we had enough time to get to know each others quirks before we got into it,” he said. “We were friends long before we got married and that has definitely made it easier.”
Though both had been friends and business acquaintances for almost 20 years before Bob popped the question, Cheri said the decision to tie the knot was actually spurred on by their combined set of seven grandchildren.
“They said ‘Grandma, what do we call him?’” Cheri said.
He added, “It started getting to a situation when they got older that ‘Bob’ was not just a ‘Bob’ anymore.”
Though both are prominent business people with hectic schedules, Bob and Cheri say spending time with their grandchildren is a main priority in their lives.
“Trust me when I say they are the highlight of our lives,” Cheri said.
“One of our favorite things is to have sleep-overs where we have all seven of them,” Bob said. “While most couples downsize at our age, we bought a bigger house that was large enough to where we could have all of them over at the same time.”
Bob also said having all of the grandchildren over for the night is a good way to get back at his son and Cheri’s two daughters for their own childhood capers.
“On Sunday mornings before I drop them off, I take them all down and get them the hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts and send them home with a sugar high,” he said with a snicker.
Besides sharing the joy of their grandchildren and having known each other for such a long time, they say being prominent business people downtown has also made their relationship easier.
Because Bob is in charge of sports and entertainment sales at the Radisson and Cheri is VP of the Gator Bowl Association, both tend to go to the same events and mingle with the same groups of people.
“Job-wise, we are both passionate about what we do and we crisscross with the same type of people and I think that is a benefit in the relationship as well,” Cheri said.
But while their situation may seem ideal, both admit there is one area of constant conflict in their relationship and Cheri said there is no middle ground for compromise.
“He is a Gator. I am a Seminole,” she said. “He is as passionate about his Gators as I am about my Seminoles so I am not going to say that we fare very well in the same room, especially during a Florida-Florida State game.”
National championship games aren’t safe either, according to Bob.
“She swears that I will never get to go to another national championship game with her when Florida State is there,” he said. “I went to the one with her in New Orleans and rooted for Virginia Tech. That did not sit too well with her.
“Generally, we work together pretty well except when it comes to being football fans.”