Gertrude Mokotoff (98) and Alvin Mann (94) met eight years ago at a gym in Middletown, New York, where they still go twice a week. "A common friend told me, 'I would like you to meet a very nice young woman.' And so it was, "he told The New York Times, hours before his wedding.
On her first date, she took her to a restaurant in Middletown called Something Sweet. "There was something about her that made me want to keep talking," she recalled. They touched on themes of the most diverse: past, present, children, grandchildren, dreams, goals ... Shortly after that they were already deciding "to share a life together".
Both were widowers of previous marriages and have seven children, 12 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
What so many call old age did not frighten them at all. Mann, who had worked for decades as a merchant seaman, did not hesitate to start a university career when he retired. In fact, at age 93 he received his bachelor's degree in history at Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh, NY.
And she, retired biologist and twice mayor in Middletown after retiring and raising four children, was eager to fill her beautiful house with good company.
"They tease me about being with someone younger, but the age difference never bothered me," she laughs, and she confided that it was she who asked him to marry him.
They vowed their love to the judge on Aug. 5 in Middletown, where they exchanged vows to Mayor Joseph DeStefano and 50 family and close friends.
As her guitarist began strumming "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," Mrs. Mokotoff, grabbing a small bouquet of white roses, stepped out of a side room and began to walk slowly toward her future husband, eyes filled with tears.
On August 20, together they will blow the candles on the birthday cake of the new wife, who will turn 99.
"People always ask what keeps us young," Mann said. "Of course, a part is due to medical science, but most of it is that we live worry-free lives. We do not let anything we can not control upset us in the least. "
Fuente: buenavibra.es
