By ALEXANDER SIMONE

Staff writer

When Diane Stubblefield bought War Bird Pizza last year, her husband, Terry, didn’t plan on helping at the shop.

“I was a mechanic, I didn’t know how to cook,” he said. “My wife showed me how to make pizzas and I make a good pizza.”

They decided to put the shop up for sale recently because of how much travel Diane does for her full-time job, and a heart condition for Terry.

While the family has had people ask about the listing, they have yet to sell.

“We’re hoping somebody buys it,” Terry said. “We move out one day, they’re cooking pizzas the next. I’ll even hang around to show them how to make the pizzas.”

Being owners of the pizza shop is a positive situation to be in, he said.

“We had a really good reception here and we still do,” he said. “Whoever buys it is still going to have the support of the community. A lot of people are sad to see my wife and me go, but we’re still in the community.”

Although they plan to sell War Bird, Terry will enjoy what the shop has to offer in the future.

“I’ll probably come here a couple times a week to have the pizza,” he said.

The Stubblefields also receive help from their other employees.

“They take a lot of the load off when they come in,” Terry said. “There’s only so much I can do.”

Diane has been traveling outside the country for her job at T-Mobile for the past six months, with Terry and the employees handling the shop.

While War Bird Pizza is one of two pizza shops in Marion, Terry doesn’t feel an intense competition with Gambino’s, in the center of town.

“It gives people variety,” he said. “It’s like if you had two burger places in town. Two burger places can survive because one person wants this burger one day and they want that type of burger the other day.”

Though the family is originally from El Dorado, they take pride in the Marion community, supporting the schools and sports teams.

“It’s just to let them know that we think about them as much as they think about us,” Terry said. “We aren’t just the pizza place across the street, that’s Terry and Diane’s place.”