NY man marries his ‘right woman’ at 99!

London: A New York man, who never got married because he never met the ‘right woman’ until he turned 98, has finally tied the knot at the age of 99.

Gilbert Herrick, the World War II veteran, married 86-year-old widow Virginia Hartman in a touching ceremony at their nursing home in Rochester, New York. And the long wait was nothing to do with commitment. “I never met the right woman until I met Virginia,” the Daily Mail quoted him as saying. After the ceremony, county executive Maggie Brooks officially declared June 4, 2011 as Gilbert and Virginia Herrick Day throughout Monroe County. The couple, who are confined to wheelchairs, met last year, when they bumped into each other in the hallway soon after Hartman arrived at the hospital. They became friends over a mutual love of art - Hartman paints china and Herrick loves oil painting. They said they acted like a pair of teenagers, exchanging love notes then tearing them up so nobody would see them. The couple gradually grew closer and closer, until they decided they wanted to move in together - but after living by himself for 98 years, Herrick couldn’t quite pluck up the courage to ask. “We wanted to share a room, but you can’t do that here unless you are married. So she asked me, and I said yes,” he added. The couple’s wedding was arranged by Hartman’s five children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who all attended the ceremony. ANI