Love in The Process: Kendra and Tim Parson

When he’s a lobbyist and she’s a director at a top Tallahassee-based public affairs firm, the best place to settle down and call home is … DeFuniak Springs?

It works for Kendra and Tim Parson, who settled in the small Panhandle town about a two-hour drive from Tallahassee three years ago.

Both spent their formative years in Northwest Florida — her in Pensacola and nearby Pace, and him in Ponce DeLeon, where his family has a 500-acre farm raising cattle, trees and now, bees. After 10 years in Tallahassee, they chose to return home to raise their now-13-year-old daughter Suzie and be closer to family.

Tim is Vice President of Liberty Partners with an office on College Avenue, and Kendra is able to work remotely as a Director at the Moore Agency. Both have Panhandle-based clients and their hometown provides a good jumping-off point for in-person meetings in locations along Interstate 10 and the coastline.

During Session and committee weeks in Tallahassee, the longish-distance commute is made easier with a fifth wheel. During Session, the Parsons load it up with their daughter and dogs and tow it down the interstate to settle in it at Tallahassee RV Park. “A lot of the legislators stay there too when they’re up this way” dubbing themselves a “loosely formed RV Caucus,” Tim cracks.

Suzie and their two dogs will come along for the ride. Their daughter will join her parents for her first Tallahassee Session after enrolling in the Florida Virtual School — mostly to make it easier for her to train for and participate in horse shows.

In their off time from The Process and things equestrian, you’re likely to find the Parson family’s fifth wheel parked at a Northwest Florida beach.

“We love going to the beach,” Tim says. A favorite is Grayton Beach, “because it’s kind of old school. It’s not too far from the house and there’s a state park there. It’s a little more remote … a little more natural.”

“Anytime we can, we take the camper out and just go hook up somewhere and enjoy.”

While both Tim and Kendra graduated from the University of West Florida, they didn’t cross paths there, meeting in 2007 at a Gulf Breeze Chamber of Commerce breakfast. She was working for Mediacom and he was an aide to then-Rep. Greg Evers.

“I accidentally gave her my boss’s business card … and she emailed him,” Tim admits. Evers passed the message along and they began dating — but it quickly turned long distance when he traveled to Tallahassee for Session and she was living in Pensacola. “I think there were a lot of Special Sessions that year, too,” he says.

Tim courted Kendra with a weekly delivery of Edible Arrangements. “He couldn’t figure out why they were so expensive. They were the big ones,” she recalls. “A month in I was like, ‘I love these. They’re really nice and I really appreciate it, but my whole office is enjoying (them)’ … my boss even said thanks.”

Sessions are usually difficult and Kendra admits it takes a special something to be married to someone in The Process: “I speak from experience. I think sometimes it makes it easier because I understand The Process and it really is out of his control,” Kendra says. “Even if I want to get mad or he wants to get mad … who are you gonna say no to? You can’t just leave.”

The Parsons have plans for Valentine’s Day, but their enchanted evening not the typical flowers-and-a-restaurant date. Instead, they’ll be eating a steak dinner at an adult spelling bee — a fundraiser sponsored by a local Future Farmers of America. Tim is a contestant, and he’s got his game face on: “I won the county spelling bee in first grade, so I’m looking forward to this.”

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