Be sure to watch the video (click the link to the story--don't know how to imbed). One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.
Couple marks 65 years of marriage with a second wedding and a first ring
Everett Potter, 97, talks about the last 65 years of marriage to his wife, Betty, 86, moments after the couple renewed their vows on Monday.
By Danielle Ameden/Daily News staff
MetroWest Daily News
Posted Apr 05, 2011 @ 01:19 AM
Last update Apr 05, 2011 @ 10:12 AM
Betty Potter was awestruck by the diamond sparkler her honey slipped on her wrinkly left ring finger yesterday.
She kept saying softly, "It's so nice. It's so pretty."
As for him, "Oh, boy, am I happy!" Everett "Pop" Potter exclaimed.
Sixty-five years after they tied the knot, the Wayland couple fulfilled Pop's dying wish yesterday: the 97-year-old hospice patient finally gave his wife, 86, the engagement ring he couldn't afford when they were young.
"He always felt bad about that," said Peg Potter of Natick, who is Pop and Betty's daughter-in-law.
Pop picked up the round solitaire yesterday morning and carried out his wish during a day trip to New Hampshire, thanks to help from Wayland Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, Life Choice Hospice, Lifeline Ambulance Service and Long's Jewelers in Natick.
Long's offered a deal on the diamond and donated two 18-karat yellow gold wedding bands, a bouquet of lilies and roses, and champagne.
"Everybody's learning from you," Long's salesman Paul Weber told Pop inside the Speen Street jewelry store, "what true love is all about."
Pop, who is blind and whose health is declining, was recently accepted into the hospice program and was granted a last wish.
"I told him we could take him anywhere but Acapulco and the Playboy Mansion," said Sara Cain, activities director for the nursing home, who teamed up with Life Choice's Hilda Lonergan and Lifeline to buy the ring and arrange the trip.
"We felt like we could give Pop this," Cain said.
Pop helped plan the day, down to the idea of renewing vows and even the lunch menu (chicken salad sandwiches, tomato soup and lemon poppy seed cake).
The lovebirds were wheeled down the aisle at the Methodist church in Milford, N.H., near their hometown of Amherst.
Pop and Betty grew up on farms near each other. Her dad raised chickens, his harvested vegetables.
"I'd be lost without you," Pop told his wife in his vows, which were read during yesterday's ceremony by Cain. "You kept me going and kept me young. I remember the times we used to dance around the kitchen, and how good of a cook you were, our walks home from my father's farm and most of all what nice legs you had."
The quick-witted romantic, who often draws chuckles, ended his vows with, "I could say it better if I had all my teeth: I love you forever."
The couple sat snuggled up with blankets on an hourlong bus ride to and from New Hampshire, singing along to oldies on a CD player and resting.
At one point, Pop asked his wife, "Are you all right?"
"Yep," she replied, nodding her head.
The Potters married Nov. 10, 1945, over Veterans Day weekend so he had an extra day off for the holiday with his new bride.
They moved to Massachusetts from New Hampshire, eventually ending up in Natick, where they made their longtime home.
A World War II Army veteran, Pop worked at chemical companies and retired as a custodian with the Natick schools. Betty worked as a secretary at MetroWest Medical Center's Leonard Morse Hospital.
The couple has a son, James, who is married to Peg, and three grandchildren, Tom, Kevin and Christine.
Tom and his wife, Terryn, who live in Whitinsville, have two boys, James, 4, and Michael, 2, who call their great-grandparents "Great Gram" and "Great Grump."
"She's his honey bunny," Peg said. "They only had the one child, so they've always been very, very close."
The secret to a long, happy marriage, Pop offered: "Be true."
Betty thought about it.
"I don't know," she said. "I just take one day at a time."
Pop gave his wife the diamond at the church, as relatives and a bridesmaid from the couple's 1945 wedding looked on.
The Rev. Thomas Getchell-Lacey officiated a brief ceremony.
Pop was quick to say, "Kiss me, Betty" before he had a ring on his finger.
"Betty's great for my soul," Pop said after the ceremony.
When asked what Pop means to her, Betty replied, "the world."
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x719609309/For-local-couple-a-wedding-and-a-ring-after-65-years-of-marriage
