“I hope we have up to five years. But I think we’ll enjoy each other as long as we have,” Bernard Snyder, 98, said of his marriage to Jo Cartwright, 96.

Bernard Snyder and Jo Cartwright show that it’s never too late for love.

The couple, both widows, married on Friday, November 1, after meeting at their retirement home in Austin, Texas. Snyder is 98 years old and his new wife is 96.

The groom was struck the first time he saw Cartwright. “I had to find out who she was,” he told a local media outlet. KUT News. Cartwright remembers suddenly noticing Snyder around her.

“Wherever I was, he was there,” she told the outlet. “I looked up and there he was. And I thought, “Well, maybe this man – maybe he likes me a little.” »

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Snyder initially moved into the nursing home with his ex-wife in 2017. She died in 2023 after a long illness, leaving Snyder feeling alone after his 73 years of marriage.

After Cartwright caught her eye, he found his courage and asked her to be his “dinner partner.” Their first meal together soon led to chatty walks around the yard.

Soon after, they both found themselves in love – something they didn’t expect. “It never occurred to me that I would meet someone — or even want to,” Cartwright told KUT News. “But I guess I fell in love with him… after a few months.”

Snyder added: “I think, ‘I was married for 73 years,’ which is a long time. I didn’t think there would be anyone. I never even thought about it because it just didn’t make sense to me. »

When Snyder asked the question and Cartwright said yes, they were excited — but worried about how their kids — they each have three — would take the news. Snyder told the outlet that he had seen other widowed men of his generation upset their children by remarrying.

But it turned out that their children were very supportive, telling the couple: “Whatever makes you happy makes us happy.” They even rushed and planned the couple’s wedding, which was held in the same courtyard where their love story first blossomed.

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Their loved ones gathered Friday for the ceremony, which ended with the newlyweds breaking a glass, in a nod to Snyder’s Jewish faith, and releasing butterflies. Now, they plan to fully enjoy their time together as husband and wife.

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“I hope we have up to five years. But I think we’ll enjoy each other as long as we have it,” Snyder told KUT News.

As for Cartwright, she has a message for others who think the time for love is over. “The crux of this whole story is that you can to love again,” she said. “It’s wonderful to know that it’s possible.”