On Valentine’s Day, some lovebirds at Blakeford Senior Life in Nashville, TN, got to share special memories with their neighbors.
Couples such as Doug and Bernadine Smith, married on Oct. 3, 1959, and Robert and Lori Rittle, married on June 26, 1965, may be more than five decades into their marriage, but they show no signs of slowing down. Seeing this love routinely displayed around campus, Blakeford’s independent living life enrichment coordinator, Casey Stocklin, decided to turn it into a celebration for the entire community.
“A large part of my job is interacting with the residents, hearing their stories and seeing how the couples mingle. A lot of our residents are really clearly still in love and still celebrating that pretty daily,” Stocklin said. “A lot of our residents say they feel like they renew their vows every day just by waking up in the morning with their spouse. So that was something really sweet and something that was very inspiring.”
To share this love with others in the community, Stocklin organized a vow renewal ceremony for both couples on the grounds of the senior living community. Attended by families and residents alike, the ceremony with the two couples (with another one there in spirit) wrote and shared their own vows with each other in front of an attentive audience. And of course, there was cake.
“For me, hearing about their life experience over decades and decades of life together was the most touching,” Stocklin said. “Seeing how that love is still very much alive and still very much pursuing one another, it was fun to watch them cut the cake together and be flirty. It just felt like a wedding, and the vows just spoke to that so clearly.”
Valentine’s Day may be over now, but the community will never forget this special day of love and fellowship. As for Stocklin, she’s searching for the next opportunity to bring the community together.
“A lot of what I do for a living here as the independent life enrichment coordinator is focusing on that meaningfulness in their circumstances in life,” she said. “A lot of people continue to find purpose within The Blakeford so that’s super important to me to give back in that way and help them to acknowledge that this is not just coasting; this is a lifestyle that you can continue to live and celebrate.”
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