Aurora—93-year-old Effie Dugan, a resident of a town in the suburbs of St. Louis, Mo., decided to have her wedding to 94-year-old Forest Opperman at the church of her youth, Ferguson Springs Baptist Church in Aurora, Ky. The couple hopes to start their new lives together back in Missouri.
Dugan, a widow, married Opperman, whose wife of 55 years passed away a few years ago. Opperman got Dugan’s number through a mutual friend, the owner of a hardware store in town. The pair was initially reluctant to begin dating.
“When he came to my door, I wanted to throw him out. I thought he was a Pentecostal preacher, but then, I decided to give him more of a chance,” Dugan told the Murray Ledger and Times.
After a rocky start, the two finally realized they were in love. They dated for about a year before getting married.
Dugan’s father was one of the men who helped rebuild Ferguson Springs after it was destroyed by a tornado in the 1960s. Although the church has since moved buildings, the couple chose to wed at her mother and father’s home church.
Howard Conner, the 79-year-old pastor of Ferguson Springs Baptist, told Dugan’s daughter that he would be honored to perform the ceremony.
“Her daughter called and asked if I’d be willing to perform the ceremony. I said I’d be glad to. I didn’t realize they were the age they were, but it didn’t matter,” Conner said.
“Nothing really excited me anymore, as far as being surprised. This was special though,” Conner told the Ledger and Times. But once he heard their story, he was glad the couple wanted to get married at Ferguson Springs, he said. (WR)
Myriah Snyder