Wedding held at Danberry Senior Living
Danberry at Inverness hosted its first ever resident wedding on the afternoon of Feb. 6. Hank Boger, 90, and Mary Ann Hinkle, 85, exchanged vows in front of a standing room only crowd.
The bride wore a knee-length lilac lace dress, and the groom wore a black tux and bowtie. The ceremony was brief, but beautiful. Cody Lytton, director of resident services, performed the ceremony, one of the fitness trainers, Cleo, read a poem “Every Day I Love You” and fellow Danberry resident Pat Fiol sang “I Believe.”
The couple had a whirlwind romance. They knew each other, but they didn’t begin their relationship until December.
Boger would send Hinkle an email every morning. One day several weeks later, his email said he had a question to ask her after pool volleyball that day.
“When we got to my room, he asked me if I was going to sit down,” she said. “When I did, this 90-year-old man got down on his knee and asked me if I would marry him.”
Hinkle told him she wanted to check with her kids to see what they thought first.
“They told me it seemed fast, but that I was a wise lady and they’d leave it up to me,” she said.
When asked what it feels like to find love at this stage in life, the couple smiled and said that neither of them were looking for a relationship.
“It’s like a brand new experience,” said Boger. “Like the icing on the cake. I think both of us were kind of in an extended mourning period [after losing their spouses] and it just happened. Good things happen for a purpose and I’ll accept that.”
After the engagement, the couple went to see Cody Lytton, who is an ordained minister, and asked if he would perform the ceremony.
Lytton then called Lori Krueger, Danberry’s director of sales & marketing, to tell her they were having their first wedding. The staff was more than happy to assist with the planning.
“It was like our wheels were turning so fast in our head, because not only were we super excited for them, but the wedding was two weeks away,” Krueger said. “We couldn’t let them just walk into the ballroom on a Friday afternoon without the perfect setting.”
Kreuger said this has been an exciting time for everyone at Danberry.
“For all our directors here, this is our first experience in the senior industry to have residents get married,” she said. “All of the residents are super excited as well and couldn’t be happier for them. I think it’s a perfect example that love has no age limit!”
Hinkle will take Boger’s name and move into his apartment at Danberry.