Retirement home darlings who found love through loss are tying the knot
CBC
Two London, Ont., retirement home lovebirds are proving it's never too late to fall in love.
Colin Oates, 95, and Suzanne Scott, 84, whose suites at Windermere on the Mount are adjacent to each other, bonded over shared interests and the loss of longtime spouses.
On Saturday, they'll tie the knot at the facility — the first such wedding in its 18-year history. The formal ceremony will be followed by a large, catered barbecue reception on the front lawn.
"This has got everybody talking, everybody's happy. They're living again," said Oates during a recent interview with CBC News. "They realize that [at] 95, you can live, which is what I'm doing."
Every resident and staff member is invited to the wedding, which could see upwards of 200 guests.
"Windermere is like a big family," said Scott, soon to be Scott-Oates. "We said it's either all or nothing, and neither of us wanted nothing."
The ceremony will begin at 4 p.m. ET, with Scott wearing a blue dress and being walked down the aisle by one, or possibly all, of her three sons.
"All want to walk me down the aisle, so I'll have one on each arm and the other one will most likely be pushing," she said, laughing.
Given Scott's Scottish lineage, bagpipers will usher the wedding party and parade guests to the reception. Members of the chapel's choir will also serenade guests with a Scottish ballad in Gaelic.
The ceremony will cap off an engagement that began in February 2023 after Oates got down on one knee and proposed during a bingo night.
"That is a big step to take for a man who's 95," Scott said.
Oates said: "I had to have two people get me off my one knee."
The pair met in 2021 after Oates, who came to Canada in 1951 from Australia, moved into the home. An assortment of his artwork, sitting in the hall, caught Scott's eye, leading her to approach Oates the next day to remark about the collection.
Last year's proposal was the culmination of months of friendly courtship, which began in earnest after the death of Scott's husband of 64 years, Bill Scott, in 2022.
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