A dream 62 years in the making for husband and wife

They met when they were 12 on his father's farm on Frank Applegate Road in Jackson Township.

PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff Florence and John Smatusik, both 82, listen to the priest who remarried them in a Catholic ceremony on Aug. 14 at the Laurelton Village Care Center. The couple, who married in a civil ceremony in July 1947, had always wanted a church wedding. He gave her an engagement ring on the "kissing bridge" on Lake Carasaljo in Lakewood when they were 18. They were married by Justice of the Peace Bill Reed on July 26, 1947, in Jackson Town Hall. There were only two witnesses to their union.

But Florence and John Smatusik never had the Catholic wedding they both wanted. On Friday, they got their wish.

The Smatusiks, both 82, were remarried by the Rev. Robert Martin of Barnegat under a bower of fuchsiacolored balloons in the courtyard of the Laurelton Village Care Center before family and friends.

Florence wore a beaded wedding gown. John wore dress pants and shirt and a tie. Both were in wheelchairs, as were many in the audience.

The Rev. Robert Martin of Barnegat officiated at the remarriage of John and Florence Smatusik. Martin pointed to a lighted white candle that symbolizes marriage and commitment.

"May the brightness of the flame shine through your lives," Martin said. "May your union be blessed forever."

Then he called for the ring bearer. Coty, a pug who belongs to a staff member, waddled up to the couple with their wedding rings in a little pouch around the dog's neck. John put the ring on Florence's finger; she put John's ring on his finger. Then she put her hand over his.

"It's my pleasure to wish Florence and John a happy 62nd anniversary," Martin said, after he pronounced them husband and wife.

Karen DePasquale, their daughter, was overcome with emotion after the ceremony.

"I think it's a wonderful thing," she said, as she wiped away tears. "It's something my mother has always dreamed about doing."

Florence's parents had a summer home in Jackson. She used to tag along with her twin brother, who often visited the Smatusik farm.

"I always tagged along," she said. "They couldn't get rid of me."

"His parents didn't care for me … his mother anyway," Florence said in an interview at the care center a few days before the ceremony. "She told me to go home to my mother. She had somebody else in mind for him."

But John didn't want anybody else. He wanted Florence.

When Smatusik's parents informed him they were moving to Hightstown and he would have to find somewhere else to live, the two decided to get married, she said.

The couple had always wanted to be remarried in a Catholic ceremony. But life intervened.

"We felt we didn't do it the right way," Florence said. "You never make time. Then the kids came."

The couple had three children, Barbara, Karen and John III. The elder John was the public works director in Jackson Township for 30 years. He was a charter member of the Jackson Mills Fire Company for decades.

But the wish to be married by the church never left them. The couple decided recently that 2009 was the time to do it. Florence and John live in the same room at the care center. Both are in failing health.

"Florence has wanted this for a long time," said Maria Penna, admissions and marketing director at Laurelton Village. "But once you're already married and raising kids, it's not easy to get around to having a wedding. But at their age, they are naturally starting to notice a decline in their health and they wanted to do this while they still have their faculties."

Florence admitted after the ceremony that she had been nervous about the wedding.

"I waited a long time," she said. "I feel like Cinderella."

Then the two were wheeled into their wedding reception to enjoy hors d'oeuvres, sparkling apple cider and a three-tiered wedding cake donated by local caterers.