Widows, Both in Their Late 90s, Marry After Meeting at Retirement Home: 'It's Wonderful to Know You Can Love Again'

Bernard Snyder and Jo Cartwright are showing it's never too late for love.

The couple, both widows, married on Friday, Nov. 1, after meeting at their retirement home in Austin, Texas. Snyder is 98 and his new bride is 96.

The groom was smitten the first time he saw Cartwright. "I had to find out who she was," he told local outlet KUT News . Cartwright recalls suddenly noticing Snyder around her a lot.

"Wherever I was, he was there," she told the outlet. "I would look up and there he was right there. And I thought, 'Well, maybe this man — maybe he likes me a little bit.' "

Snyder originally moved into the retirement home with his former wife in 2017. She died in 2023 after a long illness, leaving Snyder feeling lonely following his 73-year marriage.

After Cartwright caught his eye, he worked up the courage and asked her to be his "dinner partner." Their first meal together soon led to chatty walks in the courtyard.

Before long, they both found themselves falling in love — something they never expected. "It didn't ever occur to me that I would meet anybody — or even want to," Cartwright told KUT News. "But I guess I fell in love with him ... after a few months."

Added Snyder: "I'm thinking, 'I was married 73 years,' which is a long time. I didn't think there was going to be anybody. I never even thought about it because it just didn't seem logical."

When Snyder popped the question and Cartwright said yes, they were excited — but worried about how their children — they each have three — would take the news. Snyder told the outlet he had seen other widowed men of his generation upset their children by getting remarried.

But, as it turned out, their kids were super supportive, telling the couple, "Whatever makes you happy makes us happy." They even jumped right in and planned the pair's wedding, held in the same courtyard where their romance first bloomed.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Their loved ones gathered together on Friday for the ceremony, which concluded with the newlyweds breaking a glass in a nod to Snyder's Jewish faith and releasing butterflies. Now, they are planning to fully embrace their time together as husband and wife.

"I hope we get as much as five years. But I think we will enjoy each other as long as we have it," Snyder told KUT News.