They lived right in each other’s backyards. Perhaps not literally, but almost. Ray and Marianne were right in each other’s circles. They were in the same church, they had a lot of the same friends and they lived right across the freeway from each other in Nevada. They weren’t the likeliest couple to need the Internet to find each other. And they weren’t the likeliest to even choose online dating. But it happened and it happened right here on Catholic Match.
Marianne was reluctant about online dating. “I heard the horror stories”, she recalled, and just didn’t feel like it was a place to meet high quality men. She had lost her husband and was participating in a Grief Support Group. It was there a few of her friends brought up the idea and one of them recommended a Catholic-based site. She checked out CM and the experience was quickly positive. She didn’t meet “the one” right out of the starting gate, but she met some men, and while they weren’t the one, she unhesitatingly said she found them to be of high moral caliber. And in the bigger picture, her concerns about online dating were eased.
After a divorce thirteen years ago, Ray had experience in online dating, but wasn’t fully invested in the process. He had a couple dates, but nothing further came of it. It was after reading a Dear Abby column that he decided to give Catholic Match a full effort.
Their meeting came about via a match. Ironically, given how close they lived, Ray was traveling on the East Coast when their online contact began. It was roughly this time last year, mid-September that the story began. They had their first phone call while he was in New York and quickly made arrangements to meet in person when he was back home.
Thus began a fulfilling year that has led them to engagement. But this isn’t to say there weren’t some interesting moments. Both Ray and Marianne had children from their previous marriages and the first time they all got together, there was a little accident. Or a not-so-little one. Both had kids driving BMWs and a collision took place. “My son’s BMW took out his son’s BMW”, Marianne recalled. Ray recalled telling his son that it would all turn it okay. He suspects his son didn’t believe him, but it did indeed work out for everyone in the end.
And Ray and Marianne worked out together in the end too. “After I lost my husband, I didn’t think I would ever want to be with anyone else. I thought finding someone would never happen”, Marianne said. “But Ray and I share so many things that this was just right.”
Ray and Marianne will be married in the Catholic Church next year, perhaps as early as spring. They stand as a visible testimony that online dating works for everyone in all situations—even if you’re skeptical about going online, and even if your special someone is right next door.
