They say it’s never too late to find love. Certainly, even the hardest heart can’t fail to be touched by the tale of two seniors north of ninety years old who got married on a Florida beach this month.
The couple, Don Sandin and Jeanine Sprague, became an item less than a year and a half ago but decided to tie the knot because of the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic.
“We just decided a couple of weeks ago,” Don told the Tampa Bay Times. “Because of the circumstances that are going on in society, we just felt that we should legalize our relationship, so we would be protected.”
Because of social distancing the couple say they kept the guestlist for the wedding small and planned it to coincide with Jeanine’s birthday on Easter Sunday. The ceremony took place in their pastor’s backyard on St Pete Beach.
Don is a retired businessman and minister. He was previously married for nearly 70 years to his first wife, Peggy, until her death two years ago. He and Peggy did not have children.
Jeanine became a widow when she lost her first husband 50 years ago and was left to raise seven children alone. Three of her children are still alive but only one, her son Peter who also lives in Florida, was able to make it to the ceremony.
Don and Jeanine both attend First Unity Spiritual Campus, a New Thought center in St. Petersburg.
The pastor there, the Rev. Temple Hayes, presided at the couple’s nuptials and paid tribute to their finding a new love at such an advanced age.
“To me, they reflect the modeling of love and aging that is so necessary in our culture and our society today,” Hayes said. “We are created to live longer than we do, and we have yet to understand the difference between aging, which is natural, and being old, which is not natural. And Don and Jeanine reflect that love is everlasting and ageless and that you can never out-give or outlive it.”