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Couple who met at New Jersey nursing home finally tie the knot after coronavirus delayed wedding

Friday, September 18, 2020

Couple who met at NJ nursing home get married after COVID delay

Toni Yates has more on a true love story of a couple who found love at a nursing home in New Jersey.

EDISON, New Jersey (WABC) -- A couple who met at a New Jersey nursing home and had their wedding delayed by the coronavirus pandemic finally tied the knot Friday.

Rose Angela Filippi and Paul Reuther both live at Hackensack Meridian JFK Hartwyck at Edison Estates and never imagined that they would start a romance at the long-term care facility, fall in love and get married.

The couple originally planned to wed in June, but their plans were delayed because of COVID-19.

They started out as friends, but Reuther said as he began to appreciate Filippi's warmth and sense of humor, things began to progress quickly.

"We started to messenger back and forth on our computers from our separate rooms after evening cards or Bingo games," Filippi said. "Over time, things got serious. One evening I asked Paul over messenger if something was brewing. He said, yes, and it's not coffee."

Now, they share a room at the extended-stay nursing care facility, which offers care to seniors with varying levels of disabilities.

Filippi came to JFK Hartwyck at Edison for care following a fall two years ago at her home, which resulted in a complicated broken shoulder bone and a lengthy recuperation.

In 2011, Reuther, a widower, began riding a motorcycle, and a crash with a truck resulted in him sustaining compound leg fractures that required surgery and many months of rehabilitation.

"We came to realize that we have so much in common," Reuther said. "Rose Angela is Italian, and I love Italian food. My background is German and Irish, and she likes German food. We also realized we did the same fun things in our past and we like the same music. We were always in synch and we just like being together."

The couple also share a strong work ethic, and both built impressive careers.

Filippi, originally from Brooklyn, worked for more than 42 years in various customer service and finance positions at Con Edison, Goldman Sachs, Multiplan Insurance and other companies.

Reuther, who grew up in Warren Township, worked for many years as a machine operator in numerous plants.

"We are so happy to have met and to be together now at this time in our lives," Reuther said.

WATCH: Eyewitness to a Pandemic

It overwhelmed the health care industry, it put millions out of work, it drowned social services in an ocean of need and threatened the food supply Americans had long since taken for granted. At the apex of the crisis and for the weeks that followed, no part of life, or even what followed life, was spared.