Feature
Young at Heart
From a fateful kiss in a church pew to a serendipitous encounter over music, two Winter Garden couples celebrate finding love at any age.
- Fred Lopez
Mel and Peggy
101-year-old Mel Jenner and 93-year-old Peggy Brown prove you’re
never too old to find true love.
- Heather Ann Lee
It all started with a church pew and a wayward kiss. At least, that’s the way Mel Jenner remembers it.
Having been friends with Peggy Brown for years at church, little did Mel know that he would one day be exchanging wedding vows with the lovely lady who sat in front of him every Sunday. When Mel’s wife of 74 years fell ill, she urged him to get acquainted with some of the women of the church. As expected, Mel was uncertain; he could never do that. Yet, when she passed, loneliness inevitably set in, and everyone could see that Mel needed just the right person to cure it. At this point, the ladies at Mel’s church began to give him more attention; they began to bring him cookies, flowers, and love notes—to no avail. Knowing that Peggy was also alone, he began to take more notice to her, “She was a real looker, I always thought. I used to see Peggy in church when I would greet all the women. One time, I reached down to give Peggy a kiss on the cheek, just friendly.” Mel continues that when Peggy reached up to kiss him back on the cheek, she unintentionally pecked him smack-dab on the lips!
Peggy laughs, “Oh dear, I’ll never live that down, will I?” But we know that Mel was absolutely smitten from that kiss, and not without support from his fellow church friends, adequately teasing him. In fact, his son Bud urged Mel to go after Peggy, after seeing how happy she made him—just like a teenager, he’d say. After hearing this, Mel decided his son was right; he wanted to be more than just friends with Peggy. Having been married for 74 years prior, Mel knew just how to catch Peggy’s attention. On Valentine’s Day, he decided to gift Peggy with a big box of candy; a true romantic. The sweet gesture then prompted Peggy to invite Mel for dinner, to which he responded with an emphatic, “Hell yes!” And just like that, they were ‘going steady.’ Mel’s family could see the change in his demeanor; he was in love.
Mel recalls an earlier point in his relationship with Peggy; due to the pandemic in 2020, he was not allowed in Peggy’s building to visit. That did not stop these tenacious lovebirds, though. In true teenager fashion, Peggy and Mel would spend hours ‘shooting the breeze’ in their cars in a parking garage, or sometimes even at the park.
“At this time, I was driving back and forth from Ocoee to Orlando a couple times a day, and my son Bud had told me, ‘You look better, you feel better; your attitude is better.’ He asked me, ‘Why don’t you just move in with Peggy?’ I looked at him and said, ‘Well, she won’t let me!’” Peggy laughs at this, agreeing with her husband. Obstinate in her decision, Peggy had insisted that they could not even think about moving in together unless they were married.
So that’s exactly what Mel did. After about a year and a half of dating, Mel decided it had been long enough; he wanted to spend the rest of his days with Peggy. He bought an engagement ring and proposed to Peggy in September 2020. Now, it was time to plan. Peggy recalls, “At first, we didn’t want anybody at the wedding, but Mel kept saying he’d like to invite his fishing buddies. He kept inviting more and more people, and so I decided, ‘Well I’m going to invite some of my friends!’ So, we had quite a crowd there, but it was nice. I kept my fingers crossed for a perfect day.” As it happened, Mel and Peggy were married on the most perfect January afternoon in their church garden, at the tender ages of 98 and 91, respectively. Mel chuckles, “At our age, you just can’t afford a long engagement!”
Their love was celebrated with an abundance of family and friends, and Pastor David Uth, who officiated the ceremony, still tells everyone that he had never married a couple as old and special as Mel and Peggy. Though the first few months were rocky, and a learning experience, Mel and Peggy have found their groove—and their love is resounding. Peggy looks to Mel with adoration, “It’s very pleasant to have him around. We still have a few differences, but what married couple doesn’t?”
Mel and Peggy recently celebrated three years of marriage.
Rhythm of Love
Fueled by a shared passion for music, Mariangel De Oliveria and Marcus Crimino’s love story celebrates the enduring nature of love’s sweet refrain.
- Kate McDonald
Love has no boundaries of time or place and can often take us by surprise. For Mariangel De Oliveria and Marcus Cimino, their love story started as a friendship that crescendoed around music.
They met at Garden Music in 2019—she, an accomplished vocalist looking to improve her skills; he, a passionate multi-instrumentalist adept at almost anything from guitars to drums to saxophone. Music became the beat to their friendship, cordial and friendly, with a sense of familiarity between them. In between lessons, they shared dreams of creating and performing, and slowly cultivated an immense respect for each other’s talent.
In 2022, given a fantastic business opportunity, Marcus moved to his grandfather’s home in Pennsylvania, which was in drastic need of repair. With high hopes and a skill saw, Marcus dove into the renovations, but something felt off. “I immediately didn’t feel like myself in Pittsburgh. I felt that I was sacrificing my passion, my music, for an opportunity—which ended up being taken from me.”
In a twist of fate, the bottom fell out of the renovation project, leaving Marcus stranded in Pennsylvania. Desperate to make sense of the move and find purpose, he threw himself into a new relationship, only to find that equally toxic and disappointing. “I felt lonely and lost. I was looking for love and purpose in the wrong places, hoping that would make a difference.”
The only saving grace was the warm, steady comfort Marcus found in Mariangel’s calls and texts. And no one was more excited for Mariangel’s promotion from student to instructor in September 2022 than Marcus—the first student in Garden Music’s history to make that transition
Over the course of a year, the friends shared their successes and failures, aspirations and heartaches. And it was Mariangel who encouraged Marcus to return to Winter Garden where he had family, friends, and opportunities. “It took four attempts to make it back here, but I was finally able to make the drive and come back to the life I missed,” Marcus says.
Mariangel eagerly awaited Marcus’ return to Florida.Even though they spoke frequently on the phone, she missed him dearly and wanted to see him happy again. Although she knew that he had rented a house in Florida, he purposely kept the exact date of his arrival a secret. As a result, the surprise of his return was overwhelming. On a Tuesday in June of 2023, Marcus returned to Garden Music, where the two friends were reunited for the first time. “I saw him through the glass when I got to work and immediately ran up the stairs, I didn’t know what to do,” she says with a laugh and bright red cheeks.
“I was so nervous I was shaking,” she remembers. With a hug, followed by endless conversation, their feelings had curiously changed. “I invited him to lunch the next day … obviously, I wore the pants,” she says with a laugh as Marcus squeezes her hand.
“We went to Three Birds and we spent three hours together; it was just natural. Time stops when we are together.”
Whether it’s walking Plant Street hand in hand, snuggling on the bench in front of The Writer’s Block Bookstore, or working through student projects at Garden Music, Marcus and Mariangel relish the timeless melody of their relationship.
“When Marcus came back, I came back too,” Mariangel says with a soft smile. After losing her uncle to cancer and escaping a manipulative relationship, she finds Marcus is a salve to her soft heart. “Everyone can tell how much happier we are now that we are in each other’s lives.”
Marcus reflected on the moment he realized he loved Mariangel. They were on the swings by the fountain, and she spoke to him with such sincerity and warmth that he felt appreciated in a way he never had. Before Mariangel, he had no desire to own a home, get married, or have children, but now all he wants is to give her everything she deserves and more. “I have endless amounts of time for her,” he says proudly.
“We fell in love in Winter Garden—we talk about our future walking these streets. We have dreams of performing together, making music together, and building our lives together.” This young couple has the passion, love, energy, and understanding that they have found something rare—something that is guaranteed to be a record they play for the rest of time.
