FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A couple finally tied the knot after putting off marriage for decades.
Eighty-two-year-old Fred Mermelstein and Roberta Pine met 18 years ago on a blind date, but when he wanted to get married, she didn’t.
“I said, ‘Look, we’re doing so well. We’re not gonna have children. What’s the difference?'” bride Pine said.
When Mermelstein was hit with an infection called sepsis, doctors placed him in the intensive care unit at Florida Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale. Just days ago, he was moved to hospice.
“I kept talking to him and talking to him. I said, ‘Fred, do you want to get married?'” Pine said. “His eyes were closed, and he was with the thing on. His eyes opened up! I swear to you.”
On Friday, as he laid in a hospital bed, they tied the knot.
“Our love thanks the one who first loved us and inspires us to love each other,” Pine read off a card. “Pray for Roberta and Fred, please.”
A chaplain was present to offer blessings to the newlywed couple.
“Oh God, we pray for Roberta and Fred, and all who are gathered here will grow in the understanding and experience of love,” Cathy Lauterhahn said.
When 7News asked Mermelstein how he was feeling, he responded that he was feeling “pretty good.”
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