Molly Holder fits Match.com's fastest-growing demographic, those who are 50 and older. And she's definitely one of the company's success stories: the 90-year-old woman walked down the aisle last Saturday with the man she met on the dating website.
The groom, Edward Nisbett, is a younger man — 82 — but that's of little consequence. The two connected on Match.com last fall, and spent a lot of time emailing back and forth before they met in person in January at a restaurant in a Tallahassee hotel. Holder smartly brought along her 41-year-old grandson, Russ Lentz, to make sure everything was on the up-and-up. But it was quickly evident he could go on his way.
"I thought he was all right, so I left them alone," Lentz told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. "And they've been inseparable ever since."
Holder moved from the Pittsburgh area to Tallahassee some years ago, but she's still remembered there for the work she did as a columnist for the Irwin Times Observer and Standard Observer. She loves grammar and poetry, passions also shared by Nibett, a retired metallurgist.
Both have been widowed.
Holder signed up with Match.com "on a whim," according to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. "I knew some prince on a white horse wasn't going to ride up and sweep me off my feet, so I had to do it myself," Holder told the newspaper.
"I was a little surprised at first that Grandma went online and signed up for Match.com, but I thought 'more power to her,' because if you
don't try, you don't get," Lentz told msnbc.com. "She has had an e-mail account for about 10 years, so she really is computer-savvy for a 90-year-old. She also started oil painting three years ago, reads a lot, writes a lot of letters, continues to write an occasional article for the local newspaper, and just likes to keep active."
He says his grandmother and Nisbett make "a great pair. They really are compatible, both being poetry fans and big drinkers of hot tea (as well as an occasional dram of scotch) ... You can see that they really care about each other."
The two became engaged in February. The wedding ceremony was June 18 at Grace Lutheran Church in Tallahassee.
"The best part was at the end," the Rev. Rick Eckard, the church's pastor who performed the ceremony, told msnbc.com. "I pronounced the benediction and then told Edward he could kiss his wife. He leaned down and gave Molly a big kiss. After the kiss she said 'Wow.' "
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