South Central Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists
Updated Wedding of the Century (Video Included)
01/04/10
 |
On 12/26/09 Nonagenarians (90+)
Celebrate Holy Matrimony
(Huntsville Times article included below video)
CNN iReport Link, YouTube,
& others also Included below
With joy in their hearts, Dr. Ernest E. Rogers, 93, and Mrs. Annell M. Wright, 91, united in marriage at the Oakwood University Seventh-day Adventist Church Saturday, December 26, 2009, Ministers in charge: Elder Harold Lee, Director, Bradford Cleveland Brooks Institute & Dr. Craig Newborn, Pastor Oakwood Church.
The groom is a retired Church Minister and Professor of Biblical Languages at Oakwood University. He is the father of three (Jeannette Rogers Dulan, Eugene Rogers and Sherman Rogers), grandfather of four, and great-grandfather of three. The bride is a retired Madison County Elementary School Teacher. She is the mother of four (Belvia Wright Matthews, Brenda Wright Hughes, Herman Wright and Clara Wright White), grandmother of seven, and great-grandmother of eight. The couple resides in Huntsville, Alabama.
-Kelli C. Dulan
The following article appeared
in The Huntsville Times on 12/27/09 on page A3.
No strangers in this crowd
Steve Doyle
Bride, 91, groom, 93, tie knot after life as friends, neighbors
When Annell Wright got married the first time in 1943, a justice of the peace in Tallahassee, Fla., did the honors.
On Saturday, Wright finally got the big church wedding that every girl dreams about - at age 91.
About 1,200 well-wishers packed Oakwood University Church to see the former principal of the university's private elementary school tie the knot with Dr. Ernest E. Rogers, a 93-year-old retired Oakwood professor.
The newlyweds have been friends and neighbors since 1945, when both Rogers and Wright's late husband, H.L. Wright Sr., joined Oakwood's faculty. They even shared a bathroom in campus housing for a while.
Rogers said he began to have deeper feelings for Wright about a year ago, when he saw her at the birthday party of a mutual friend.
"The scales fell from my eyes," he said. "Instead of seeing her as Mrs. Wright, I saw an angel of delight."
The whirlwind courtship caught the couple's children - they have seven between them - by surprise.
But Jeannette Rogers Dulan said she's thrilled her father found love again after three years as a widower (his wife of 64 years, Mildred, died in May 2006).
"He gave to my mother for all those years," Dulan said. "When you have a heart that full, it's wonderful if you can continue giving."
Even before Saturday's union, the Rogerses and the Wrights were like family.
On two occasions, they were next-door neighbors on Oakwood Road.
Annell Wright and Mildred Rogers carpooled to work together when both taught at West Madison Elementary School.
Dulan and Wright's daughter, Dr. Belvia Matthews, met as toddlers and were maid of honor at each others' weddings.
Ernest Rogers spoke at Wright's husband's funeral in 1997.
"We're delighted, because it's not like she's marrying a stranger," Matthews said. "We all grew up together."
Dressed in a sparkling tiara and flowing white wedding gown, Wright was escorted down the aisle by son H.L. Wright Jr. as camera flashes popped.
Dr. Harold Lee, who studied Greek and Hebrew under Rogers, had the honor of marrying off his old professor. The couple were flanked by their children, grandchildren and great-grandkids - about 35 people in all.
"This is going to be great fun," Lee told the crowd.
Lee said it was hard knowing what to say to two nonagenarians embarking on a new life together. In the end, he chose this:
"Rejoice. Worry about nothing, but pray about everything. Share funny stories with each other, affirm one another."
Their first kiss, broadcast on the church's giant TV screens, had everyone beaming. Afterward, the crowd treated them like rock stars, crowding around to snap photos with their cell phones and digital cameras.
"We haven't made any long-term plans," the new bride said before a wedding reception at Valley Event Center in Athens. "We're just going to relax, be happy and enjoy life.
"We think this marriage is from the Lord."
The Huntsville Times © 2009, All rights reserved, reprinted with permission.
The following is the CNN iReport Link
where the story is also posted.
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Posted by Elder Michael A. Harpe, Director
Communication, ASI, & Trust Services
South Central Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him [be] glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21).