They Were Each Online for Only a Month!
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Robert and Mary Gale, both from Spokane, Washington, each joined CatholicMatch for the first time in October of 2021. At that time, they could have no way of knowing that they were less than a month away from meeting their future spouse!
The Blessed Mother played a role in their meeting!
On November 5th, Robert messaged Mary Gale after noticing an icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the background of one of her profile pictures. Mary Gale remarked that “most of the responses I got were because of the Blessed Virgin Mary behind me, but I didn’t even know she was behind me! I just asked my daughter ‘take a picture of me!’”
For her part, Mary Gale clicked on Robert’s profile after his message, but was originally unsure about responding to him because the picture he posted was not altogether flattering! She smiled as she recalled that experience, saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover!” Ultimately, she did answer him and they messaged back and forth for several days before setting up a meeting in person.
As they discussed where to get together, Robert thought, “Women have a very difficult time in today’s world feeling comfortable in meeting a stranger. Where is the most comfortable place I can invite this woman to meet me?” He felt the Holy Spirit nudge him, “invite her to Mass!” So they set up a first meeting several days later at Sunday Mass at his parish. She told him “I’ll be wearing [Seattle] Seahawks colors!” And while Mary Gale had felt reservations initially based on Robert’s profile picture, “as soon as he took off his mask after Mass, I fell in love!”
“It’s like we were living parallel lives”
As Mary Gale and Robert got to know each other over the following days and weeks, they found that, in Robert’s words, “It’s like we were living parallel lives [over the years]!” For starters, both were fans of the Seattle Seahawks NFL team. On a deeper level, though, they both shared a deep appreciation for and commitment to their Catholic faith. On a personal level, in the preceding years, each had lost a spouse after an extended illness. Robert’s wife of 40 years Sue died of cancer in 2019 and Mary Gale’s husband Mike of 50 years battled multiple sclerosis for many years before his death in 2020. For a time, Robert and Mike had attended the same high school, as had Sue and Mary Gale!
And at the time they met, Robert and Mary Gale attended parishes just 12 minutes apart. When Robert went Mary Gale’s way to attend Mass at her parish while she lectured, the deacon there recognized him and approached him afterward. He told Robert, “I used to visit your mother when she was in the nursing home, I would bring Holy Communion to her.” Robert commented on that ‘God moment,’ saying, “Again, it was a way of God bringing Mary Gale’s life and my life together…The Holy Spirit really wants us to be together. He’s letting us know how close our lives have always been together!” Mary Gale joked that “It took [Robert] 70 years to find me!”
Robert and Mary Gale went on multiple dates over the following weeks before she traveled to visit her son for two weeks in Florida over Christmas. She and Robert texted back and forth and FaceTimed every day while she was gone.
Overcoming Challenges...
Together, they talked through several obstacles. Caring for years for her sick husband Mike had forced Mary Gale to become very independent. Robert wanted to be sure that she wanted to be part of a team, “to merge from herself and myself, into a new covenant of loving each other and sharing our lives together, and giving and taking.” Mary Gale had to reconcile with several things in Robert’s distant past, including a short-lived marriage to his high school sweetheart (which was annulled before he married Sue). After multiple conversations, each one felt confident in their choice of the other and their desire to keep the relationship moving forward.
A FaceTime Proposal!
In late January, Mary Gale and several girlfriends went for two weeks on a previously scheduled trip to Maui. During one of their daily FaceTime sessions, while she was there, Robert told Mary Gale that he was going to see a priest about funeral arrangements for his sister who had just passed away. Without beating around the bush, Mary Gale told him, “While you’re there [talking to the priest], why don’t you ask him about [shortening] the six-month engagement requirement for us?” Robert responded by telling her that he would think about it.
After that conversation, he felt that the Holy Spirit told him, “‘Have some courage! Trust in me, and tell her that you love her and want to be with her!’ So, of course, I asked Father, and he goes ‘absolutely, we can start discussing things.’” Just days later, while they were FaceTiming on January 31st, he told her, “Mary Gale, I really, really love you. Would you marry me, please?” While he noted that he would have preferred to have asked her in person, Robert couldn’t have asked for a better answer than the affirmative one that she gave him!
The couple had an April 24th, 2022 wedding.
CatholicMatch lives up to its name!
Mary Gale noted that “CatholicMatch did a good job matching us!” and Robert echoed, “It did an excellent job in matching our characteristics and our personalities, our likes, and dislikes, together.” Asked what advice she’d give to other older adults living on their own after decades-long marriages and wondering whether to consider marrying again, Mary Gale advised, “Trust in God and say your prayers, because He will guide you.”