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SEWICKLEY, Penn. — After 88 years of being single and fending for herself, Betty Jane Allshouse decided to settle down.
Allshouse, 88, said she had dated during her youth, but no marriage prospects came along. So, for most of her life, she worked in human resources fo Allegheny Ludlum, a sheet metal company in Pennsylvania. She made a life for herself that did not include a husband.
"It didn't bother me being single when I was younger, but all my friends were married," Betty told Yahoo! Shine. "It's not like I didn't date—I had plenty of boyfriends but they didn't propose."
When she moved from Harrison, Penn. into Masonic Village, a retirement community in Sewickley, Penn. on Valentine's Day in 2011, she was content to continue on the way she always had, just in a different place.
Things changed for her when a 78-year-old widower named Walter Lowman asked to join her for dinner in the dining hall. Allshouse said people don't talk much in the retirement complex, so his approach was a surprise.
"I guess it was love at first sight for him—and also for me," Allshouse told Pittsburgh's Tribune-Review. "The next day, I thought, 'well, this is good,' and I kept after him."
A short six months later, Lowman proposed. She told him she needed to think about it. And she did. She asked herself if, after so many years of going through life alone, she wanted someone to join her.
I‘d given up; I never thought I‘d get married," Allshouse said.
Twenty-four hours later, she told him yes.
"Why not? I'll have a new friend," was her thinking, Allshouse said.
In November, Allshouse donned a white pantsuit and pink blazer and Loman wore a sports jacket while the Masonic Village's pastor performed the marriage. Allshouse's reverend of 25 years oversaw the vows.
A singer performed "Some Enchanted Evening" from the play "South Pacific" for the couple.
The two maintain their own rooms kitty corner from one another in the village. They visit one another frequently, and Loman's children visit often. Allshouse speaks with his daughter every evening.
"I could tell she was just a great person and loved my dad, and he loved her," said Mellissa Lowman Callaway, Lowman's daughter. "They‘re great for each other."
Photo: Philip G. Pavely/Tribune-Review
