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Both twice-widowed, two 95-year-olds found a new chance at love in 2021

Both twice-widowed, two 95-year-olds found a new chance at love in 2021

CBS Evening News/YouTube

For John Shults and Joy Morrow-Nulton, the COVID-19 pandemic brought more than just health threats and lockdown woes. For the two 95-year-olds, it also held something remarkable—another chance at romance.

Both Shults and Morrow-Nulton had been married twice and widowed twice, but they were determined to find love again. They met in May of 2019, brought together by Morrow-Nulton's 69-year-old son, John Morrow.

"She was cute, I'll tell you that," Shultz told the New York Times of their first meeting. "And she was smart and she had a delightful sense of humor. And she smiled at me."

Shultz asked her to lunch a few more times before it became crystal clear to Morrow-Nulton that he was on a mission to date her.

"He started bugging me for lunch every day," she told the Times. "I knew he loved me. He would call and say, 'What are we going to have for lunch? Where are we going to go today?'" Since she drives and he doesn't, she took him to nearly every restaurant in Rosendale, N.Y.

But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, their time together took a necessary turn. To stay safe, they had to basically date in a bubble.

"When Covid came we tried to duck it," Ms. Morrow-Nulton said. "We ate at his house a lot. His granddaughters would get our lunch and we'd sit in his dining room and eat it."

Maintaining a relationship through the pandemic was a challenge. They resorted to long drives together and batting balloons back and forth indoors.

"She was worth it," Shults told CBS. "It was a pain in the neck, though."

Shults' son Pete said the couple would call each other every day. "They'd find a way to get together," he said. "They did whatever it took."

95-year-olds get married after COVID courtshipwww.youtube.com

By the end of February, they had both gotten vaccinated—and engaged, though neither remembers the exact date of the engagement. Shuts had been asking for his love's hand every day for months, but Morrow-Nulton had resisted.

"I had a house to take care of, and I wasn't sure I wanted to help take care of somebody," she told the Times. "Plus, let's face it, we're not in the greatest condition as far as running around goes."

But then winter came, limiting their time together.

"We had a snow day, and I was not going to drive to see him, and I missed him," she said. "I finally decided, 'You better say yes.' We have a good time together. He's not like anybody else I've met in my whole life."

The couple got married in a small ceremony in Ulster, N.Y. on May 22.

"I hope I make it to 100 so we can have five years together," the bride said just after their wedding. "He's a delight to be with."

"Nobody starts life at 95," she remarked to the Times. "But we did."

Congrats to the happy couple. May your years together be full of more love and delight.

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