Within a couple of hours after arriving in San Antonio Texas for the Church of God general assembly in 1994  Ken, Dan’s son-in-law, first saw Mary in the restaurant at the hotel and pointed her out to Dan.  Teri added, “And she doesn’t have on a wedding ring.”  Dan did not respond or turn to check her out.

Then  on Saturday as they were leaving the Laymen’s Luncheon where Pat Robertson had spoken Teri exclaimed, “Dad there’s that woman!  Dan asked, “What woman?”.  “That woman that Ken saw.  Someone needs to do something.”  Dan said, “Stop her!  Block the aisle.”  He and Teri blocked the aisle and as Mary came by with a friend they introduced themselves.  She told him where she worked and that she knew his Uncle Bill Winters.  It was a casual conversation.  Mary then walked off and left them standing there.   When Dan saw Mary it was love at first sight.  He did not yet know that she was the woman God had been keeping for him.

Mary’s reaction to all of this was, “That was a friendly bunch.” She never dreamed that the man she just met was her future husband.

Wanting to find out more about Mary, Dan went immediately to the exhibit area looking for Al and Brenda Taylor.  He asked, “Do you know Mary Boldrey?”  They assured him they did and made several complimentary remarks about her.  Al suggested that he and Brenda invite Mary to the Vision Banquet at 6:30 p.m. that day.  Dan was scheduled to fly out early the next morning.  Al and Brenda were able to find Mary and invite her to the banquet.  They told her they had a friend who was interested in meeting her.  She agreed to go and check him out.

Since Dan was leaving early the next morning, after the banquet he invited Mary to go for a walk on the Riverwalk. They found a small sidewalk restaurant, sat down at an outside table and began to talk. They had a great time just getting acquainted. It was exciting to know that they had so many mutual friends.

Dan got on the plane the next morning and flew to Florida.  He kept thinking about Mary, but did not know what to do. He was busy the following week with house quests.  Two Romanian ministers that were in the states for the General Assembly had gone home with him and he had spent the week entertaining them at Disney World and showing them around the area.  After they left he decided to call the Publishing House to see if he could talk to Mary.  This started a series of phone calls that continued for several days.  To Dan it seemed impossible that everything could be so, “just right.”  It all seemed to fit.

Being the caring person that he is, Dan had always taken his widowed mother-in-law to lunch on Sunday.  She was a strong woman of God and a Church of God minister for many years.  She often said to Dan, “There’s just one for me and he’s gone.  One for you and Mary Nell is gone.”  This one particular Sunday he decided that it was time to tell her about Mary.   To his surprise, her response was, “Yes, if you have found a good Church of God girl, that’s wonderful.”   That was a confirmation to Dan.    It was important to him that his former wife’s mother be happy with his new marriage.   She loved Mary from the beginning and a friendship began that continued until her death.