By James Lomuscio of The Advocate
Photo By Kathleen O'Rourke
Article Launched: 09/18/2008 02:44:03 AM EDT
NORWALK - As the strains of Pachelbel's Canon in D Major filled the third-floor sunroom, some women wept. A few men choked up.
Many of the guests looked back and forth from the groom, Ronald Price, to the hallway where his bride, Michelle Weiner, was about to make her entrance at the Marathon Healthcare Center.
"What's taking her?" they asked. "Did she get cold feet?"
But when the deejay played "The Bridal Chorus," commonly known as "Here Comes the Bride," Weiner appeared. Pushing the joystick on her wheelchair, she moved at a steady pace to the music and to the cheers and camera flashes of about 30 patients, staff members and guests.
It was a first at the rehabilitation and care center - two residents who need 24-hour, long-term care were about to tie the knot.
Price, in his own wheelchair and with best man Ed Getlein standing at his side, beamed as Weiner rolled up alongside him. There, Justices of the Peace Joanne Romano and Rick McQuaid, both Norwalk Common Council members and wearing black robes, were ready to officiate. Janice White, a Marathon resident and Weiner's maid of honor, held a bouquet as she sat in a nearby chair.
"Everything leading up to this moment was of value," McQuaid said. "Love is more powerful than your past."
Price was eager to seal the deal.
"Ronald, do you take Michelle to be your wife . . ." Romano began.
Before she could finish with the words "to have and to hold," Price shouted, "I do."
Price, 59, has been wheelchair
bound for 14 years because of arthritis and a stroke during heart surgery. Weiner, 56, suffers from multiple sclerosis.
Price strained to reach his bride to place the ring on her finger. She, too, had to stretch with the ring to reach "my partner in life, my one true love."
After they were pronounced husband and wife, applause filled the East Three Solarium, followed by the deejay spinning Frank Sinatra's "The Best is Yet to Come."
Though there was no dancing, a festive atmosphere prevailed. Residents, many of them elderly or handicapped and in wheelchairs or holding walkers, chatted loudly or dug right into the dinner served up by Doug DeAndrea, director of food services.
Marathon Executive Director Courtney Young said Weiner and Price transferred to the center a month ago from one in New Haven.
"We met in New Haven two years ago, and I asked her if she would like to go out with me back in May," Price said. "On our first date, we went on a walk-a-thon for breast cancer."
"It was at Lighthouse Point in East Haven," Weiner said.
"On June 22, I asked her, 'Honey, would you like to marry me?' " Price said. "And she said, 'Yes, yes, yes.' "
Getlein said Price called him a couple of weeks ago, asking him to be best man.
"We've known him for years from when he used to sing in the choir at Trinity Episcopal on the Green in New Haven," said Getlein, who traveled with his wife, Olive, from Woodbridge to the ceremony. "He also sold hot dogs at the Yale Bowl. He has a heart of gold and he always wants to be part of things."
McQuaid said a justice of the peace often doesn't know much about the people he marries. This time was different.
"I got caught up in the emotion," he said.
NORWALK - As the strains of Pachelbel's Canon in D Major filled the third-floor sunroom, some women wept. A few men choked up.
Many of the guests looked back and forth from the groom, Ronald Price, to the hallway where his bride, Michelle Weiner, was about to make her entrance at the Marathon Healthcare Center.
"What's taking her?" they asked. "Did she get cold feet?"
But when the deejay played "The Bridal Chorus," commonly known as "Here Comes the Bride," Weiner appeared. Pushing the joystick on her wheelchair, she moved at a steady pace to the music and to the cheers and camera flashes of about 30 patients, staff members and guests.
It was a first at the rehabilitation and care center - two residents who need 24-hour, long-term care were about to tie the knot.
Price, in his own wheelchair and with best man Ed Getlein standing at his side, beamed as Weiner rolled up alongside him. There, Justices of the Peace Joanne Romano and Rick McQuaid, both Norwalk Common Council members and wearing black robes, were ready to officiate. Janice White, a Marathon resident and Weiner's maid of honor, held a bouquet as she sat in a nearby chair.
"Everything leading up to this moment was of value," McQuaid said. "Love is more powerful than your past."
Price was eager to seal the deal.
"Ronald, do you take Michelle to be your wife . . ." Romano began.
Before she could finish with the words "to have and to hold," Price shouted, "I do."
Price, 59, has been wheelchair
bound for 14 years because of arthritis and a stroke during heart surgery. Weiner, 56, suffers from multiple sclerosis.
Price strained to reach his bride to place the ring on her finger. She, too, had to stretch with the ring to reach "my partner in life, my one true love."
After they were pronounced husband and wife, applause filled the East Three Solarium, followed by the deejay spinning Frank Sinatra's "The Best is Yet to Come."
Though there was no dancing, a festive atmosphere prevailed. Residents, many of them elderly or handicapped and in wheelchairs or holding walkers, chatted loudly or dug right into the dinner served up by Doug DeAndrea, director of food services.
Marathon Executive Director Courtney Young said Weiner and Price transferred to the center a month ago from one in New Haven.
"We met in New Haven two years ago, and I asked her if she would like to go out with me back in May," Price said. "On our first date, we went on a walk-a-thon for breast cancer."
"It was at Lighthouse Point in East Haven," Weiner said.
"On June 22, I asked her, 'Honey, would you like to marry me?' " Price said. "And she said, 'Yes, yes, yes.' "
Getlein said Price called him a couple of weeks ago, asking him to be best man.
"We've known him for years from when he used to sing in the choir at Trinity Episcopal on the Green in New Haven," said Getlein, who traveled with his wife, Olive, from Woodbridge to the ceremony. "He also sold hot dogs at the Yale Bowl. He has a heart of gold and he always wants to be part of things."
McQuaid said a justice of the peace often doesn't know much about the people he marries. This time was different.
"I got caught up in the emotion," he said.
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