It all started with a letter.

“Jon will be retiring from the U.S. Air Force July 1, 2018, after 20 years of active duty service,” wrote Jennifer Sullivan. “He has been on 7 deployments and a 1-year remote tour throughout his career, spending a total of 1,210 days away from our daughter Isabelle.”

When Jennifer Sullivan heard that the Houston Astros wanted a veteran to throw out the opening pitch at Military Appreciation Night, sponsored by Whataburger, she took the opportunity to nominate her husband, Master Sergeant Jon Sullivan of Katy, Texas.

A retired veteran, a selfless father and a huge Astros fan, Jon was the perfect candidate.

“Hardworking, dedicated, selfless, and determined are just a few words to describe my husband,” she wrote. “He does whatever he can to help anyone especially his family.”

Jon and Jennifer are the parents of 11-year-old Isabelle and 2-year-old Brayden, both of whom were on hand the night of July 5 when their father walked out to the pitcher’s mound to open the game against the Chicago White Sox.

In the end, their school colors didn’t matter nearly as much as their love for orange-and-white when it came time for these fans to take photos to celebrate their senior year.

After all: What better way to memorialize the bond between a young adult and their Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit as they move on to the next phase of their lives?

Photographer Katie Bosler had known Mason Willis since he was in elementary school, and she knew he didn’t love taking photos. So she asked him if he would take his portraits at the one place guaranteed to make him smile: Whataburger. He felt awkward at first, but warmed up quickly. “After the first few pictures, I no longer cared who was watching because I had my vanilla shake and Honey Butter Chicken Strip Sandwich.”

When Mason was a student at Garland High School near Dallas, Texas, he would eat at Whataburger after every football game – and several other times a week “just because. “ Now a freshman at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, he still eats at Whataburger at least once a week. “I go there every Thursday after bible study,” he says.

K.A. Bosler Photography

Willard Jenkins of Del Rio, Texas, is what we call a Whataburger junkie. He's there a lot. So when it was time to take senior photos ... well, there was nowhere else he wanted to go.

He and a friend visited Whataburger, ordered his favorite — a triple meat with cheese and ketchup — and he pulled out his best senior smile.

Striped tie at the ready, Tristan Smitherman, a senior at Saraland High School in Saraland, Ala., took photos with a definite personality.

Like the one where he’s lying on the table like Derek Zoolander, but much cooler. “Oh yes, there were a lot of people there,” Tristan says. “It was like the afternoon rush — and especially when I was lying on the table, and everybody was looking at me and they didn’t know what to think.” 

Tristan, who gets the Monterey Melt when he’s not getting the Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit, graduates in May.

Cierra Birmingham graduated from Rouse High School in Leander last year, and took her pics at the Whataburger that was the go-to spot for her high school crowd after football games.

Why Whataburger? “I didn't want to do basic,” Birmingham says. “It was more personal . . . and I thought it was funny.” For the shoot, she ordered her favorite meal: a patty melt without onions and a sweet tea. And, “of course, the Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit."

It’s been a while since Connor Burgess took his senior pics, but the former Dutchtown High School student from Geismar, La., still remembers the conversation he had with the photographer.

“I want something that will represent me,” Burgess told him. “The photographer was like, ‘Well, if you had to take a pic one place, where would it be?’ I said, ‘Shoot, I go to Whataburger more than any place else … That’s my happy place. I love Whataburger.’” It shows.

When Matthew Reynolds graduated from Trinity University in San Antonio in 2017, he took the opportunity to show off his Whataburger pride – not to mention his (ahem) borrowed table tents. Growing up, Matthew would share Whataburger breakfast with his dad and brother. And once he was in college, Whataburger became his favorite hangout. "It was always open!" he explains.

Texan Jack Barnett wanted to make sure his senior pics showed his personality. So he donned his straw cowboy hat and National Hot Rod Association T-shirt before ordering his favorite Whataburger Patty Melt.

Jack will graduate from Plano Senior High School in Plano, Texas, this year with plans to major in construction management at Stephen F. Austin University in the fall.

Edward Melo, who is graduating from Crosby High School in Crosby, Texas, is looking to the future – planning to study business and entrepreneurship while building awareness about an anti-bullying movement he’s founded.

Choosing Whataburger for his senior photos was an easy decision, he says. “No matter the occasion I will always have Whataburger as a number one priority!”

And Annie McKelroy, who will graduate from Hardin High School in Liberty, Texas, this year, wanted her pictures to represent her love for the Lone Star State. “I knew that I needed to do my pictures in Whataburger, because, I mean, how much more Texas does it get?”

Whataburger was also a huge part of her high school years. “Whataburger has been a place for first dates, hanging out, catching up with old friends, and an overall gathering place,” she says. “Whataburger is more than just a fast food place, it is a home.”

Honey Butter Chicken Biscuits from Whataburger.

And to the delight of all 300 of her guests, she got her wish. Whataburger Family Members made a special midnight delivery to keep the party going.

“From that point on, our guests could have cared less about the open bar or the band,” she says. “This is what everyone loved. This is what everyone still talks about!”

So this March, as the Hodges prepared to celebrate their one-year anniversary, Lauren concocted another perfect plan: more Honey Butter Chicken Biscuits.

Lauren placed a slightly smaller Whataburger order this time and prepared a honey-butter experience like no other, complete with a sequined tablecloth, crystal cake platter and fresh flowers.

Lauren ordered 15 Honey Butter Chicken Biscuits just for the photos. “When I went to pick them up, I wanted one to eat immediately, so I had to order one more,” she says.

And then she and Lorne enacted their own twist on the wedding-cake tradition.

The shoot quickly became a group effort, which didn’t surprise the couple at all. “Whataburger has always played a big part in my life,” she says. As a child, she and her family would stop on their way to the coast every year. In college, she and her roommate were there every week. Now, she and Lorne and her young nephew stop in at their Whataburger regularly.

When the photo shoot was over, Lauren bagged up the extra Honey Butter Chicken Biscuits for her office. “I shared them with co-workers later,” she says. “We do not waste Honey Butter Chicken Biscuits!”

Now that’s a happy ending.

Madison Richards Photography

Nataly and Favian of Spring, Texas, spent their Valentine’s Day 2018 with us, and it was pretty special. 

Nataly decided to surprise Favian with a Valentine’s dinner for two – a real treat since the couple has three kids. So her niece dropped her off at their local Whataburger before he got home from work. But not before she left him a Valentine’s Day card with a special note inside.

Nataly started her love letter simply enough:

“Oh my Valentine

You are so sweet

I’m not sure ’bout you

But I’m ready to eat.

Let’s have some fun

A dinner just for 2

I’ll get you a #3, no bun

Anything to show my love for you.”

And then things got spicy.

“So clean on up, and put on somethin’ purty

Meet me at our favorite place

No earlier than 6:30.”

Fortunately, he knew just where to go. And Nataly greeted him with a decorated booth – complete with candles and flowers – and his new favorite order: The Mushroom Swiss burger (Whatasized) with an unsweet tea and a side of Jalapeno Ranch for his fries.

He was a little sheepish when he first walked in, she says, but they both loved it. “This is who we are,” Nataly says. “We don’t need fancy … we just wanted to be together, the two of us.”

Of course, Whataburger has been part of this couple’s love story since the beginning. “For our first anniversary, we flew to Corpus Christi solely to visit the two-story Whataburger, and we ate every meal there for three days,” Nataly remembers. (They had to pull this photo off of her circa 2008 video camera!)

And now, they go to their neighborhood Whataburger three or four times per week with their family.

And while the kids didn’t get to go along on this whirlwind night on the town, Nataly and Favian do have a special keepsake to remember the night: a #12 table tent, marking that this was their 12^th Valentine’s Day together.

Not that they’re worried about forgetting. “We could have gone somewhere and waited 45 minutes to get seated, and then spent $50 or $60 on dinner,” Nataly says. “But instead we got to spend that time together and eat our favorite meal. It was perfect.”

The first time Kaila Ducharme’s grandfather took her to a rodeo, she knew she was born to ride.

That was at age 4.

“I told him I never wanted to come back unless I was competing,” Ducharme says.

When she was 5, she did just that – leading her horse through a barrel-racing competition.

Now 18, Ducharme loves competing in a variety of rodeo competitions, including barrel racing, pole bending, breakaway roping and goat tying.

Last summer, Ducharme and two friends went for a ride on their horses. Two hours later, they ponied up at a Whataburger drive-thru for some impromptu milkshakes, and were caught in a photo that went viral on social media.

For Ducharme, it was just another day with her friends and her horses. But it’s a day that almost didn’t happen.

Back in the saddle

On September 3, 2015, Ducharme was training a young horse when it became spooked and flipped over backwards on top of her.

“She basically folded me in half like a pretzel. I knew immediately something was terribly wrong when I couldn’t move. Everything was numb,” she recalls.

Her injuries were so severe that she was flown via Life Flight to Memorial Hermann, Houston’s trauma hospital.

“I broke my left femur, left hip and ninth rib. I also lacerated my liver, gallbladder and damaged my colon,” she says. “I spent three months in a wheelchair.”

But Ducharme was determined to compete again.

Four months after the accident, she saddled up and went for a ride on horseback. And in March 2016, six months after the accident, she competed in a rodeo competition, placing 6^th out of 100 riders.

“I was a little disappointed I didn’t place higher, but proud because it was a difficult road to get there,” Ducharme says.

And looking forward

Meeting the medical team that helped save her life inspired Ducharme. While she had been considering veterinary school, she is now studying to become a Life Flight nurse.

And, of course, she’s still riding.

After three surgeries and still battling post-traumatic stress, Ducharme rode the horse from the accident in December 2016.

Horses, she says, will always be in her life.

And Whataburger will forever be a part of that journey: from sponsoring rodeo events like the Texas High School Rodeo Association state finals, where Ducharme attempted to qualify for a spot at nationals back in June or going all the way back to those rodeos with her grandfather when she was a little girl.

“We would often stop at Whataburger for dinner before heading home. I'll never forget: the 3-piece chicken strips with gravy was always my meal of choice,” Ducharme laughs. “When I think of those post-rodeo Whataburger trips with my grandpa, it makes me nostalgic.”

Allison LaSalle Photography