Joanne and Patrick had both lost their first spouses in 2007. They both participated in Grief Groups to process their losses and learn how to move on with life from there. Both decided, after two or three years, to be open to dating again.
Joanne was in Memphis Tennessee, and Patrick in Hudson, Ohio.
They each dated a few other people they’d met online, but nothing really clicked. Fortunately for them, they had both taken the CatholicMatch personality tests, and popped up in each other’s Match sections due to the compatibility results! They started talking in January of 2010, and started talking on the phone shortly after. At the time, Joanne was 74, and Patrick, 75.
As they got to know each other, they shared their histories. Pat was a graduate of Holy Cross College with an MBA from Harvard, and had a long successful career in sales before retiring. Joanne was a retired RN, who also had her Master’s in Counseling from the University of Memphis. Both had had first marriages, his with five (now-grown) children and hers with four. And between them, they had a bevy of 11 grandchildren!
Patrick's first trip to Memphis was in mid-March the day before St. Patrick's Day, back in 2010. Joanne was throwing a St. Patrick’s Day party, and she impulsively invited Patrick to join.
Everyone approved of Pat right away!
“I think I was feeling so sure that we were compatible, that I just threw in an invitation to a St. Patrick's Day party, so Pat could meet my good Catholic Cursillo friends,” Joanne recalls. “It worked! Everyone approved of Pat including me!”
After meeting in person, they kept dating over the miles between their respective cities. They discovered some shared history during this time, too. Back when they were in high school in the 1950s, they had been just one year apart . . . in neighboring Dominican high schools in Illinois! They had had mutual acquaintances back then and ran in the same circles, but had never actually crossed paths. Small world!
The two continued to date long-distance...
In May, Patrick told Joanne to go ring shopping! She took her good friend, who was a precious stone expert, with her. Together they picked out what Joanne liked, and as Patrick had instructed, left the store where the owner kept the ring on hold. Patrick had planned that weekend to buy said ring when he drove down to Memphis, but a sudden storm blew up and he wouldn’t be able to make it before closing time! So he called Joanne, who went back to the store to see if they would wait longer. Unfortunately, the original ring they picked out had just been sold! Luckily for Joanne and Patrick, the owner of the store was quite accommodating and was happy to sell them an even more valuable ring at the same price as the other.
The two officially became engaged later at Dairy Queen, where the employees took their picture and hung it on the restaurant wall!
They found themselves wedding planning for that very fall. It wasn’t an easy task to plan for a 200-guest wedding in just a few months, but they were up for the challenge.
“We had a beautiful wedding on September 25th in Memphis, at the Church of the Holy Spirit,” Joanne remembers. They had 200 guests and many of their children and grandchildren were able to attend. Joanne recalls telling all the ladies invited to wear red shoes, just for the fun of it! The two began their marriage being actively involved in AA, as well as other ministries for the Catholic church. They spent the next eleven years pouring their lives into their families and into ministry.
Sadly, Patrick passed away on October 6, 2021.
Now a widow for a second time, Joanne says: “Thanks to Catholic Match we were brought together, and I would not change our relationship for anything!”
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