Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Columnist John Katsilometes: Couple roll into LV to tie knot

Fabulous Las Vegas runs Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in the Las Vegas Sun. Reach John Katsilometes at [email protected] or at (702) 259-2327 or (702) 812-9812.

When Francis Murphy asked Margaret Nixon out for the first time, she shot him down.

Don't take my word for it. Ask Murphy.

"She shot me down, yep," he said.

"I was not interested in him for a while," Nixon added.

That "while," however, soon passed, and Nixon's interest grew. And on a breezy afternoon Monday on Las Vegas Boulevard South, the senior couple from Defiance, Ohio, were married at the Little White Wedding Chapel.

He walks with a cane and she is largely confined to a wheelchair because of a mild stroke and some knee problems, so they rolled through the chapel's drive-thru and exchanged vows while seated in motorized wheelchairs.

Little White Chapel proprietor Charolette Richards estimates she's performed between 200,000 and 300,000 ceremonies -- but never one where both participants drove through in wheelchairs.

"We've had some scooters, we've had a lot of Harleys and biker weddings," she said. "But I have never done one of these. They are so cute."

It was a dream come true for the couple, who finally went on their first date on Aug. 1 and soon found that they had a rare compatibility.

"He was pretty persistent, and I was kind of lonely," Nixon said. "On our first date, we just sat on his front porch," Nixon said. "He squeezed me when I left."

Nixon is 73; Murphy 75. It was his idea to make a trip to Las Vegas to tie the knot; she had never visited the city before this weekend. They stayed at the Four Queens. Helping organize the trip was Nixon's daughter, Patty Schafer; Patty's husband, Dave Schafer; and best man General Smith of Covina, Calif., who has known Murphy for 45 years.

The trip was not without snags. The limousine sent to pick the couple up from the hotel and take them to the County Courthouse and then to the chapel could not accommodate both wheelchairs. Dave Schafer wound up driving one chair almost two miles on the sidewalk from the courthouse to the chapel.

"I am a good son-in-law, that much can be said," he said. "These (wheelchairs) seem a lot faster when you're going short distances."

The happy couple are enjoying the Four Queens honeymoon suite until Friday, then return to LaFeria, Texas, where Murphy spends six months out of the year.

"These two were right under each other's noses," Patty Schafer said. "It gives hope to seniors everywhere."

NoteMart

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