Elderly pen pals marry in nursing home

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WINDSOR, Conn., Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A pair of pen pals aged 85 and 96 have wed in a Windsor, Conn., nursing home after seven months of correspondence through the mail, the couple said.

Australia native Thelma Symonds, 85, said she moved to the Kimberley Hall nursing home in Windsor after her husband of 60 years died, WFSB-TV, Hartford, Conn., reported Wednesday.

Symonds said she met her future hubby, Chauncey Christofferson, 96, after he responded to an article she had written in a military magazine about her late husband. The two corresponded for seven months before Christofferson made the trek to meet his future bride in person.

"We actually fell in love the old-fashioned way," Christofferson said. "(We wrote) for seven months until I finally came to meet her. I knew who to look for, her room number. I walked right into her room, unannounced."

The pair said they decided to get married last year. The ceremony was held at the nursing home Tuesday before an assembled crowd of family and friends.

"I don't feel nervous at all," Symonds said before the ceremony. "I just feel plain excited. We've talked about it a lot, but never quite got around to doing it."