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Davis Journal

Matchmaker rooster brings couple together

Jun 07, 2021 02:02PM ● By Becky Ginos

Julianne and Darryl Murphy and been living about a block and a half away from each other for several years but had never met.

FRUIT HEIGHTS—Yard art is not usually considered romantic. But for Julianne and Darryl Murphy a large statue of a rooster brought them together – literally.

“It turns out Darryl and I had lived a block and half from each other for three years,” said Julianne. “I would always walk my little dog Libby on the north side of the neighborhood that was divided by a road. During the pandemic I was walking her a lot while we were on lockdown last May.”

Julianne said one day she randomly decided to take Libby on the south side. “I’d never done that before. As I was coming down a little hill I realized there was this big statue of a rooster in someone’s yard. I was astonished by it. It shocked me. I pulled out my phone and took a picture then posted it on Facebook saying ‘I guess this is what happens when you walk your dog on the south side.’”

Not long after posting the photo on Facebook, Julianne got a message from Darryl. “We had many mutual friends but we’d never had any interaction,” she said. “He said ‘hey that’s in my neighborhood and I pass it every day.’ We ended up messaging for three hours that night.”

In the process of the conversation Darryl and Julianne discovered they had a lot in common. “It turns out our daughters were friends and his daughter had been to my house and knew me.” 

They decided to meet in person the following Thursday, she said. “We hit it off and had a great time. It was an inopportune time to meet. I had just lost my job due to COVID. We couldn’t really go on a date because everything was closed. We started to hang out in the backyard getting to know each other.”

Darryl proposed in November and the couple got married on New Year’s Eve. “I moved into his home just right by the rooster,” said Julianne. “We just had our one year anniversary of us meeting because of Facebook and the story I posted. We went to that home (with the rooster) and knocked on her door and told her we literally got married because of the rooster.”

Julianne said they often talk about how their backyards connected but they didn’t know that. “If I sat on my deck I was looking directly at Darryl’s. If he was sitting in his yard he was looking my way. We’ve been under the same sky with questions, uncertainty and heartbreak in life. He’s my north star. We’ve both been sitting looking up at the sky and the stars and here we are.”

When they were both married before they lived parallel lives for many years, she said. “We often refer to each other how we were guided to be together.”

Julianne said they now have a beautiful blended family. “Even though 2020 was the worst in so many ways it was the best of 2020 when I went for a walk with Libby and saw the rooster. We chose to get married on New Year’s Eve to celebrate all the good in 2020 and how fortunate it was that we met each other in such unusual circumstances. But we have hope looking to our future together.”