|
Planned a Valentine's Day wedding Wichita couple find love again, with help from Internet
Feb 14, 2012 (The Wichita Eagle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Love moved quickly into Gordon Allen Perry and Judy Allene Norman's lives.
They met Nov. 2 on the Internet at the SeniorPeopleMeet.com website.
He was the 84, with the Internet name of "Cuddlebug." She was 75, known simply as "Judy36Fun." Both had lost spouses.
She was baking cookies for her grandchildren in Comanche, Texas, when his Internet profile lit up her computer screen. He was looking for a wife.
Today, on Valentine's Day, they are getting married.
"He was so gentle in his chat line," Judy said. "He was such a gentleman.
"The other guys were not in good form. Some were very crude. Some were rude. But Gordon was a perfect gentleman."
On Monday, there was a flutter of activity as they went about their rehearsal in the theater at Reflection Ridge Senior Community at 2300 N. Tyler.
The rehearsal had its wackier moments.
Shortly before it started, the couple's trumpet player, Frank Foulkes, age 93, stepped into the Rev. Teri Strong's office at the center and announced, "Did you know you got the toenail people in there?"
"What?" Strong said as she rushed to the theater to see for herself. Indeed, health practitioners were helping some of the seniors trim their toenails. Strong also serves as the center's activity director
So, to the gentle hum of electric toenail buffers, the couple practiced rolling their scooters down the aisle. Foulkes played his trumpet as June Wright played Mendelssohn's Wedding March on the piano.
Resident Selma Miller, close friend to the couple, told the bride, "It's not too late to back out ..."
But by then, Strong had said those familiar words, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today ... blah, blah, blah, blah, blah - and then we'll have a prayer."
The best man, Charlie Sprout, sat in his scooter right behind the couple. Norman's matron of honor and sister, Nell Lewis, leaned on a cane and watched.
June Taliaferro , also a resident of the retirement community, sang "Oh, Promise Me," "Because" and "You Light Up My Life."
They practiced putting on imaginary rings and kissing in their scooters.
In the beginning, they both had to learn about how to participate in online chats.
"Our fingers didn't move real fast," Judy said. "But mine moved faster than his."
Gordon could only type with his left hand following a stroke. But his persistence paid off.
He wooed her with his webcam. She did not use her webcam on purpose - or attach a photo to her profile.
"I didn't want my picture floating around cyberspace," she said.
At one point, she was getting 10 to 15 profiles of men sent to her a day. She weeded the list down to five and did the only thing she knew what to do when presented a situation involving choices: She made an old-fashioned manual spreadsheet and looked at the pros and cons of each man.
"I asked each of them if the 'M' word was in their long-range plan," she said. "I knew what their financial background was like. I didn't want them to marry me for a meal ticket or me them."
Gordon was a career Air Force man who was later a manager for Cessna Aircraft's customer relations department and assistant manager of the Cessna Learning Center.
Judy and her late husband, Steve, owned an oil and gas software company, made investments in the industry and traveled extensively.
As Christmas neared, Judy threw the brakes on their Internet communications, telling Gordon they needed to cool it. She'd be busy over the holidays; family was coming.
When New Year's Eve passed, Judy typed him a question: "Is the 'M' word in your long-range planning?"
He typed back.
"If the 'M' word happens to be marriage, I started SeniorPeople with marriage in mind."
Soon they were calling each other - sometimes three or four times a day.
"I fell in love with him over the phone," she said.
Deeply in love
On Jan. 18, Gordon hired a driver, rented a car and traveled nearly 500 miles to Texas.
"I said we would take it one step at a time with the right of refusal on both of our parts at each and every step."
And, when he arrived in Texas, Judy said she packed all her good clothes and got into that car with a total stranger and his driver and traveled to Wichita.
"I was deeply in love, and I am still in love," she said.
"We are just gushy. We act like we are 18-year-olds. We giggle constantly. He's a funny guy."
He says, "She's a very loving woman. She has one fault: her heart is too big ... She got me with that Texas drawl."
And so, today both will decorate their scooters and roll down the aisle together.
Reach Beccy Tanner at 316-268-6336 or btanner@wichitaeagle.com.
___ (c)2012 The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.) Visit The Wichita Eagle (Wichita,
Kan.) at www.kansas.com Distributed by MCT Information Services
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
TMCnet LOGIN
Webinars
