Photo for Headline Surfer® / DELAND, Fla. -- It started with a date riding on a motorcycle and culminated in marriage for radio personality Leslye Gayle and Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson as the two exchanged nuptials on Sept. 13, 2014.
"I've known Ben for a long time working in the news business and had interviewed him many times, but it wasn't until he was a guest on my show 6 1/2 years ago and I was newly divorced did we start dating," Gayle, co-host of the Magic Morning Show on Magic 107.7 FM for 14 years, and prior to that a news anchor at WKMG Local 6, told HeadlineSurfer.com. “Our first date was a motorcycle ride in and around DeLand and we’ve been together ever since!”
"I've known Ben for a long time working in the news business and had interviewed him many times, but it wasn't until he was a guest on my show 6 1/2 years ago and I was newly divorced did we start dating," Gayle, co-host of the Magic Morning Show on Magic 107.7 FM for 14 years, and prior to that News Anchor at WKMG Local 6, told HeadlineSurfer.com. “Our first date was a motorcycle ride in and around DeLand and we’ve been together ever since!”
The wedding of Leslye Gayle and Ben Johnson comes in at No. 46 in the HeadlineSurfer.com countdown of the top 100 local stories of 2014.
They dated for four years and then got engaged two years ago," the 53-year-old Gayle said, several weeks after their wedding at Lake Beresford Yacht Club in DeLand, attended by immediate family members and friends, including her 17-year-old on, Chase, and Johnson's 26-year-old daughter, Casey.
Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson and Magic 107.7 FM morning radio personality Leslye Gayle exchange wedding vows on Sept. 13, 2014, at the Lake Beresford Yacht Club in DeLand, Florida.
Johnson, who declined comment for this story, just as Gayle predicted he would, had been a bachelor for 20 years when he finally married again, staying in the same community where he was raised as did she, leaving WKMG in 2001, and resurfacing on the far right on the FM dial in the morning. He is in the midst of his fourth term as sheriff, and before that a long-time deputy stretching back to the early 1970s.
Gayle -- a bubbling personality While Johnson is more of the laid-back silent lawman with the Southern drawl -- describes the newlyweds as "the perfect couple because we both love our communities and want to have a positive effect on them."
Gayle sees herself and Johnson as two peas in a pod with many common bonds and she views him as the ultimate catch.
"We are both family people," she said. "We also love everything outdoors. I have a horse, he likes to hunt. Together we like to ride motorcycles, (play) golf and spend time on our boat. I feel so blessed to have captured the heart of what I think, is the most honest, caring, loving, hard working, dedicated man in Volusia County."
Leslye Gayle sees herself and Ben johnson as two peas in a pod with many common bonds and she views him as the ultimate catch.
"We are both family people," The Mgic 107.7 radio peronality said. "We also love everything outdoors. I have a horse, he likes to hunt. Together we like to ride motorcycles, (play) golf and spend time on our boat. I feel so blessed to have captured the heart of what I think, is the most honest, caring, loving, hard working, dedicated man in Volusia County."
RECAP
The HeadlineSurfer.com Countdown of the Top 100 Local Stories of 2014...
Posted Wed, 2015-07-01 10:08
Posted Mon, 2015-04-27 09:47
61. Daytona Beach Shores cops: St. Augustine man killed in fiery car crash caused by excessive speed
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The Headline Surfer® Countdown of the Top 100 Stories of 2014, is sponsored by Edgewater Towing & Myron's Auto Service of Edgewater, FL. 