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Gertrude Mokotoff and Alvin Mann had previously met each other eight years ago at a gym located in Middletown, N.Y., where each of them still work out twice a week. “A mutual friend said to me, ‘I’d like you to meet a very nice young lady,’” Mr. Mann recalled after chopping wood one morning recently over at his mountaintop home in Cuddebackville, N.Y. During their first time spending time together, Alvin drove Gertrude to a gorgeous restaurant in Middletown that goes by the name of Something Sweet. “He was a perfect gentleman,” she said with a smile, and he added, “There was something about her that made me want to keep on talking.” In one second, they became an item, talking about their dreams, their hopes and goals and even the possibilities of sharing a life together. Mr. Mann, who had traveled the oceans of the world as a young United States merchant seaman, had then returned from troubled water and he had found enough tranquility in cozy Cuddebackville New York to concentrate on getting a college degree. Ms. Mokotoff had designed a home on a hill in Middletown and could not wait to bring everyone they both knew over to see their place. “I kept getting teased about dating a cougar,” Mr. Mann said, chuckling. “But the age difference never really bothered me because we just hit it off, and I wasn’t about to let her go.” “I asked him to marry me,” she said with a tiny giggle. “I was tired of chasing after him.” What happened next in this serendipitous romantic union? Click "Next" to find out. He agreed to her proposal and the two got married on Aug. 5 at Middletown City Hall, where they each said their vows before Mayor Joseph DeStefano and 50 other relatives and close friends. (Fred Fox, the bride’s older brother, who lives in Los Angeles, unfortunately, could not make it but he sent overhis best regards to his little sister.) When their guitarist began playing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” Ms. Mokotoff, clutching a petite bouquet of white roses, strolled out from a side room and began to walk slowly towards her future husband. His eyes began to fill up with tears. Everyone in the old courtroom was smiling. “This is like an early birthday gift,” Ms. Mokotoff said before she and Alvin clench hands gleefully. She was looking forward to Aug. 20, a day when the newlyweds will most likely have to work together to blow out the candles on Ms. Mokotoff’s birthday cake — every single one of the 99 candles. “So I’m 99, 98, it’s just a number,” Ms. Mokotoff joked. “But today, I’m still 98, right? So let’s not rush things.” Mr. Mann, who is now 94 and earned his bachelor’s degree in history just last year from Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y., stands by his word when he says that when it comes to being old as opposed to feeling old, the numbers don’t always add up the same. Click "Next" to read more. After the wedding ceremony, Mr. Mann managed to sneak out the back door and, minutes later, pulled up in front of City Hall, behind the wheel of his red Toyota Corolla. As the guests began spilling out of City Hall and onto the sidewalk, Alvin stepped on the gas pedal and zoomed past them down the street, noisily dragging the traditional soda cans tied to the back bumper right below a sign that read “Just Married.” He took the car for a ride around the block before turning around to pick up his new wife. Mr. Mann is orginally from Manchester, New Hampshire. He was born there on May 24, 1923. His parents were Mae Mann and Hyman Mann. Alvin joined the war in 1943 as a 19-year-old, eventually to serve as a second engineer aboard cargo ships, tankers and troop ships throughout the duration of World War II. “It was a scary time,” he claimed. “There were other ships sinking all around us. I was one of the lucky ones who was able to come home.” While he was already married by the time he was honorably discharged in 1947, he opened a business in the big apple entitled Temporary Office Services Inc. The purpose of the company was to provide short-term secretarial and clerical aid to other businesses. In 1960, Mr. Mann, who claimed he “could never stand living in the city,” bought a country home in Cuddebackville, in the depths of the Catskill Mountains, which he prefers to call “a little piece of heaven.” Mr. Mann’s first marriage, which lasted 20 years before tragically collapsed in a divorce, generated his only biological child, Mark Mann, who is now 71. Mark served as his father's best man. Alvin's second marriage, to Maybelle Kart, who was an art historian and also an artist from Great Neck, N.Y., who had two daughters, thrived for 45 years until her passing in 2007. Click "Next" to read more. Mann’s neighbor also lovingly described the couple: “This man is 94 years old, and I see him outside chopping down trees, dragging logs out of the woods with his old Ford tractor, stacking firewood and cutting the grass. Then I see him and Gert running around like two high school sweethearts, holding hands and kissing, and driving to New York City on weekends. If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it.” “Age doesn’t mean a damn thing to me or to Gert,” the groom said. “We don’t see it as a barrier. We still do what we want to do in life.” Credit Justin Gilliland/The New York Times Last year, Mr. Mann officially became the oldest person to graduate from Mount St. Mary College. The school also handed him an honorary doctorate this past May. At 93-years-old, he drove 80 miles round trip twice a week for almost two and a half years to gain the 30 credits needed to retrieve a degree he had begun the process of retaining in his 70s, while he lived in another home in Tequesta, Fla. He banged out 60 credits at Palm Beach State College nearby, and 30 more credits at Florida Atlantic University, before finishing up at Mount St. Mary. “We studied many historical events like World War II and the Vietnam and Korean Wars, but this was stuff I had actually lived through,” Mr. Mann giggled. “No wonder I aced most of my exams.” Keith Schuler, who has been the neighbor of Mr. Mann for the past 20 years, called him “an inspiration, and an incredible human. Mr. Schuler was on hand at City Hall for the ceremony, which he called “a once-in-a-lifetime event,” along with several other attendees who ranged in age from Ms. Mokotoff’s 7-month-old great-grandson, Jack Handman, to the bride herself. (Ms. Mokotoff would have been the second-oldest person at her wedding if her older brother, Fred, who is currently 103, had been able to attend.) During the ceremony, the groom wooed his guests with several stories about his new bride, including the first time she slept over his house. Click "Next" to find out about what happened at this sleepover... “We had spent the whole day together, and at night, I set up the bedroom for her, and I was going to be in the next room,” Mr. Mann said. “She gets into the bed, and I say good night and start walking out, and she says, ‘Where are you going?’” After exchanging vows and wedding rings, the couple were showered with applause, well wishes and hugs, as several of the guests began to cry. “Their enthusiasm is contagious and their certainty of a destiny together is inspiring,” said Mayor DeStefano, who is Ms. Mokotoff’s political protégé. “We ask that the vision they have for one another always reflects the attraction that first brought them together,” he said before pronouncing them husband and wife. After the ceremony, Mr. Mann managed to slip out a back door and, moments later, reappeared in front of City Hall, behind the wheel of his red Toyota Corolla. As the guests began spilling onto the sidewalk, he stepped on the gas pedal and zipped past them down the street, noisily dragging soda cans tied to the back bumper below a sign that read “Just Married.” He took it for a spin around the block before returning to pick up his new wife. “This is fabulous,” said Charles Mokotoff, the bride’s son, an internationally known classical guitarist who lent his musical talents to the ceremony. Shortly thereafter, the couple and their guests resurfaced at John’s Harvest Inn, a nearby restaurant where the reception was held. Just before dinner, the bride raised the roof, and the groom’s eyebrows, when she sat in a chair and hiked up her wedding dress just above her knee to reveal that she was wearing a garter. “Very nice,” Mr. Mann said, his cheeks turning as red as his Corolla. “I must admit I like it.” The groom was then asked how his life might change now that he’s a married man, again. “Nothing is going to change,” said Mr. Mann, taking his wife’s hand as he spoke. “We’ve already done so much together, and let’s face it, we both know that neither of us are likely to find anyone else,” he said with a grin. “So from here on out, it’s just the two of us, together, for the remaining days of our lives.” “We had spent the whole day together, and at night, I set up the bedroom for her, and I was going to be in the next room,” Mr. Mann said. “She gets into the bed, and I say good night and start walking out, and she says, ‘Where are you going?’” After exchanging vows and wedding rings, the couple were showered with applause, well wishes and hugs, as several of the guests began to cry. “Their enthusiasm is contagious and their certainty of a destiny together is inspiring,” said Mayor DeStefano, who is Ms. Mokotoff’s political protégé. “We ask that the vision they have for one another always reflects the attraction that first brought them together,” he said before pronouncing them husband and wife. “This is fabulous,” said Charles Mokotoff, the son of the bride’s, who is actually an universally known classical guitarist who also played at the ceremony. After the wonderful ceremony, the couple and their loved ones met up at John’s Harvest Inn, a nearby restaurant where the reception was held. Just before the grand dinner, the bride raised the roof, along with the groom’s eyebrows, as she sat in a chair and hiked up her wedding dress just above her knee to show to everyone that she was rocking a garter. “Very nice,” Mr. Mann said, his cheeks turning as red as his Corolla. “I must admit I like it.” The groom was eventually asked how his life may alter now that he’s once again a married man. “Nothing is going to change,” said Mr. Mann, proudly clenching his wife’s hand as he spoke. “We’ve already done so much together, and let’s face it, we both know that neither of us are likely to find anyone else,” he said with a big smile. “So from here on out, it’s just the two of us, together, for the remaining days of our lives.” True love has no time restraint. Source: ( New York Times, Yahoo)

You searched for: living big in a tiny house

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