It's All About Love

By IAN MINIELLY

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Marenisco - It can seem like true love is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but Marenisco's own Ed Wilke and the now Karen Raisanen-Wilke are getting a chance to experience the joy for a second time.

While the two knew each other socially for years, it was their more recent courtship and marriage on May 3, 2014 that won the couple this year's Daily Globe "It's All About Love" contest.

Both Ed and Karen had lost their previous spouses suddenly, after 37 and 45 years of marriage, respectively. Ed and Karen were no strangers to love, with a combined 82 years of marriage under their belts. But love, sweet love, has a funny way of working itself out; sometimes so close you cannot help missing the tree for the forest surrounding it. That said, the people in their church had been eyeing the two of them for a few years.

Ed and Karen shared the same pew, sitting on opposite ends and casually saying, "Hello," or "how is the weather?" in passing, but never really talking or getting to know each other.

After two years as a widower and noticing the beauty who was at the end of the same pew, Ed approached the pastor about what he thought regarding the likelihood of an invitation to a date being accepted.

"I guess you'll never know until you ask her," the pastor replied. So Ed asked and Karen accepted. The people in church recognized the courtship blooming as the two of them began moving closer and closer on Sundays.

Their courtship was brief, only lasting six months because both of them figured being in their 70s, they could not drag it out too long or they would not have a whole lot of time to spend married.

Ed approached Karen's two daughters and asked them if it would be OK if he asked their mother to marry him. The daughters agreed.

Karen always wanted to go on a cruise and Ed always wanted to visit Alaska, so they booked an Alaskan cruise for their honeymoon. The other passengers figured the two of them were celebrating decades of marriage together and were caught by surprise to hear it was their second love.

At one of the stops in Alaska, while eating dinner in a restaurant, they met a couple from Chicago who had driven to Alaska. After hearing they were newlyweds, the Illinois couple quietly paid for Ed and Karen's meal.

Ed and Karen are getting ready for their third anniversary this spring. They like to go camping at Lake Gogebic and feel very blessed to have found love again.

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It's All About Love

Our story is a little unusual.

I became widowed in 2009 after 45 years of marriage, and my husband was widowed in 2012 after 37 years of marriage.

We knew each other from church; I sat on one end of the church pew with my husband-to-be on the other end. We shared a casual, "Good morning, how are things going?"

After some time (about a year), my groom approached the pastor and asked him if he thought I would go out on a date, as I seemed pretty content with the lady friends I chummed with.

Pastor's reply: "I guess you'll never know until you ask her. "

After several attempts to reach me by phone, our first date was arranged.

A new romance began, and after several weeks, we knew we wanted to be together and plans for a wedding were in the future. The groom, wanting to do things proper, asked for my daughter's phone numbers and (of course after me) called my two daughters and asked for their permission to marry their mother.

Since our romance began at the church, the pastor thought it fitting to announce our engagement by having us take the "building fund offering," as we would be using the church for our upcoming wedding.

On the cruise, when asked what event or anniversary we were celebrating, our response was we just got married two weeks ago. Needless to say, all thought that so awesome. You see, this bride and groom were 70 and 75, so love has no age limit.

Karen Raisanen-Wilke

Marenisco