In May of 2021, Tom and Necita connected on CatholicMatch.
Neither one of them had been online for very long and they were excited to meet each other so quickly and easily.
At the time, Tom was 85 years old, and Necita was 74. Both had joined CatholicMatch after the death of their first spouses.
“We both were very lonely,” Tom recalls. He had lost his wife six years previously, and after taking time to grieve her loss and recover himself, felt called to rejoin the dating world.
85 wasn’t too old for a second chance at love, was it? (Answer: OF COURSE NOT!)
For her part, Necita had lost her husband nine years previously and found herself drawn to CatholicMatch for the same reason as Tom.
They met online not long after and exchanged only two sets of messages before setting up a date!
“We knew we were right for each other very early on!” Tom says.
Both lived in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California, about twenty miles apart from each other. Quickly they set up a first date for June 3rd.
Necita asked Tom to join her at Sunday Mass near her home, where she has an office for her public accounting job. (Tom is retired.)
Their first date was lovely, and was soon followed by a similar second.
Necita joined Tom for Mass in Baldwin Park, California. Soon, the two were seeing each other regularly.
As they kept dating, they joined parish activities together and prayed the Rosary daily. They found joy and companionship in each other, which they cherished after many years of each being alone. Over the course of the next year or so, Tom brought Necita to meet his three grown daughters.
Fast forward to Valentine’s Day of 2023...
Tom and Necita took a special trip to see the sights in Hollywood! They both wore matching red shirts to celebrate the holiday. And, Tom knew it would match the rose he brought as a surprise for his girlfriend–along with the engagement ring!
Tom got down on one knee and asked Necita to marry him.
Of course, she said yes!
While engaged, they took an extended trip to the Holy Land in Jerusalem together. They wanted to “walk the footsteps of Jesus” where the life of Christ actually took place.
They count this trip as the highlight of their engagement.
The two will travel to Necita’s home country in the Philippines next, in order for Tom to meet her family and to collect her baptism records to be married in the Catholic Church.
The two will be married soon and both agree that they likely would have never met if it weren't for CatholicMatch.
They encourage other singles in their senior years to give online dating a try because you're never too old to find love!
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