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By Skylar Wolfe

Special to the Democrat

NATCHEZ — Bill and Norma Williams retired to Natchez approximately nine years ago.

Together, they walked along the Natchez bluff on North Broadway Street, where The Dart landed Thursday afternoon, to exercise and enjoy the view.

Bill, 67, retired from being the director of advance development programs at a defense firm, and Norma, 61, was an accountant for Entergy.

Bill said they try to walk about 5 miles every day.

The couple said they started an exercise routine when the COVID-19 pandemic began.

“We started it [walking] because of COVID,” Norma said. “Something else to do. You can’t go around to the restaurants and things like that. We finally started an exercise routine.”

Norma volunteers as a statistician for the community tracking COVID-19 cases, creating charts and graphs for the Mayor of Natchez.

Norma said she was born and raised in Natchez but moved away for work opportunities. The couple met at a bar in Destin, Florida, approximately 20 years ago.

“I wasn’t looking for a date,” Bill said. “I was just tired from working. I needed to have a drink. I look next to me and there is this little woman, and she says ‘What’s a girl got to do to get a drink in this bar?’ She kept trying to wave down the bartender, so I said, ‘I’ll get your drink.’”

Bill said they started talking and at the end of the night they exchanged information.

“We exchanged business cards believe it or not,” Bill said. “How weird is that?”

The two began a long-distance relationship and two years later they got married.

“We were one of those that worked out,” Norma said.

Norma moved back to Natchez when her mother became sick, she said, and when her mother died, they purchased the house to retire in Natchez.

The couple agrees they like what Natchez has to offer for them.

“It’s a nice place to live,” Bill said. “I always tell everybody how friendly people can be in this city.”