On Sunday, before a crowd of friends and relatives, Ebenezer Rose, 93, wed Monica Hayden, 89, in a ceremony at the Crowne Plaza hotel on Belvedere Road. The couple, friends for decades, said they decided to take the plunge after a brief courtship.
Rose, who as a younger man traveled the world as a missionary for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, met Hayden in church about 20 years ago.
"She had eyes on me all these years," said Rose, who lost Bernice, his wife of 58 years, about four years ago. "By God's grace, we're here."
He proposed to Hayden, whose two husbands are gone now, too, about six months ago.
"I told her, 'Each of us is living a lonely life. Why not get married?'"
When the day arrived, Rose put on a dapper suit and awaited his bride.
She appeared, at last, to a flourish of music. A wide grin spread across Rose's face and stayed there.
After the kiss, the toast, the meal and the cake, and after the last guests had wished them well, Mr. and Mrs. Ebenezer Rose lingered a moment to consider their new life together.
"It was more than I expected," Mrs. Rose said, her tiara flashing in the light. "Beautiful."
Copyright © 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
June 8, 2009
USA: 89- and 93-year-old tie knot in West Palm Beach
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WEST PALM BEACH, Florida / Palm Beach Post / June 8, 2009
By Michael Laforgia | Palm Beach Post
On Sunday, before a crowd of friends and relatives, Ebenezer Rose, 93, wed Monica Hayden, 89, in a ceremony at the Crowne Plaza hotel on Belvedere Road. The couple, friends for decades, said they decided to take the plunge after a brief courtship.
Rose, who as a younger man traveled the world as a missionary for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, met Hayden in church about 20 years ago.
"She had eyes on me all these years," said Rose, who lost Bernice, his wife of 58 years, about four years ago. "By God's grace, we're here."
He proposed to Hayden, whose two husbands are gone now, too, about six months ago.
"I told her, 'Each of us is living a lonely life. Why not get married?'"
When the day arrived, Rose put on a dapper suit and awaited his bride.
She appeared, at last, to a flourish of music. A wide grin spread across Rose's face and stayed there.
After the kiss, the toast, the meal and the cake, and after the last guests had wished them well, Mr. and Mrs. Ebenezer Rose lingered a moment to consider their new life together.
"It was more than I expected," Mrs. Rose said, her tiara flashing in the light. "Beautiful."
Copyright © 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
On Sunday, before a crowd of friends and relatives, Ebenezer Rose, 93, wed Monica Hayden, 89, in a ceremony at the Crowne Plaza hotel on Belvedere Road. The couple, friends for decades, said they decided to take the plunge after a brief courtship.
Rose, who as a younger man traveled the world as a missionary for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, met Hayden in church about 20 years ago.
"She had eyes on me all these years," said Rose, who lost Bernice, his wife of 58 years, about four years ago. "By God's grace, we're here."
He proposed to Hayden, whose two husbands are gone now, too, about six months ago.
"I told her, 'Each of us is living a lonely life. Why not get married?'"
When the day arrived, Rose put on a dapper suit and awaited his bride.
She appeared, at last, to a flourish of music. A wide grin spread across Rose's face and stayed there.
After the kiss, the toast, the meal and the cake, and after the last guests had wished them well, Mr. and Mrs. Ebenezer Rose lingered a moment to consider their new life together.
"It was more than I expected," Mrs. Rose said, her tiara flashing in the light. "Beautiful."
Copyright © 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
