A cruise of love - Couple ties knot on-board Norwegian Pearl
Published:Saturday | November 19, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Dalton Laing, Gleaner Writer
SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland:
THEY WERE both doing it for the second time, but it was ensured that this time around would be extra-special - an event that is expected to saturate their brains for the rest of their lives. It is the cruise wedding of Joyce Green and Caswell Brown.
They met in Miami, USA, after Joyce flew up from Jamaica and Canute flew down from New York, and once settled on-board the Norwegian Pearl, they both exchanged vows and made their solemn promises on October 16.
"We wanted to make this special and exciting, so we decided on a cruise," explained Green at a reception on October 29 at the Commingle Hotel in Savanna-la-Mar where friends and family of the newly-weds enjoyed the moments of celebration with them.
"He has been on several cruises before, but it was the first time for me, so it was extra special," she added.
It all began when Brown, who is a past student of the Cokesview Primary School in Westmoreland, decided to pay a visit to his old school to find out if he could offer any form of assistance. Now, Green was the principal at the time, but unfortunately, when Brown came knocking, she was on her way to a Rotary Club meeting and asked him to come back another time.
Instant attraction
"She caught my eye the moment I saw her," remarked Brown in an interview. He went on to explain that the janitor told him Green was not seeing anyone, so of course, this was his big moment, being divorced for 15 years.
A single dinner date was sufficient to create a bond between the two so much that on Brown's return to Buffalo, New York, the correspondence kept flowing. Both being retired for two years, Joyce being 62 and Caswell 67, they decided to make it official. So while the ship was docked in Miami, they tied the knot and became man and wife, with the sister of the bride and best friend of the groom Kaydeen Miles and Carlos Atkinson, respectively, being the chief witnesses. In addition, six other close friends took the cruise to get in the mix live and direct.
Brown was a quality inspector for a motor-vehicle manufacturing company while doing furniture building and refurbishing. His academically inclined wife was a principal at the time of her retirement. Before her eight-year stint as principal, Green was a master teacher in literacy and a recipient of the Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Education.
So a simple courtesy call to a primary school has changed the lives of two retired persons. "I never expected anything like this," said Joyce. "It is, however, a happy feeling because we truly love each other."