Love in the Water Aerobics Class

Want to find romance and true love in your “later years”? Hit the pool.

That’s where Marlene Parsons, 78, and Edward La Rue Sr., 83, not only lit a spark but tied the knot.

Reported the Washington Post, “The bride walked out of the locker room and onto the pool deck wearing a tutu over her swimsuit and white water shoes.” The groom was similarly attired, though in a tuxedo t-shirt and top hat as the Maryland couple stood waist-deep in the shallow end of the pool where they’d met in a YMCA water aerobics class.

As dozens of their aerobics classmates watched, the women wearing rubber corsages on their bathing suits and men bare-chested but wearing ties, they were married by the YMCA’s aquatics director, who is also an ordained minister.

They met in 2022, both still grieving their partners, who had died. Edward liked splashing other people in the water aerobics class, and Marlene splashed him back. They kissed in the pool when they thought no one was looking.

After a first date (Chinese food) in late 2023 — the first date for either in years — Edward asked Marlene to marry him. Unsure, Marlene thought about how he made her laugh after being unable to get out of bed following her husband’s death. A few days later, she accepted.

This past November, they took the big step into the pool. As family and witnesses waded, floated or watched from dry land, Marlene joined Edward as Etta James’s “At Last” played on a boom box.

Surrounded in the pool by a circle of friends, Edward said, “I give you this ring as a symbol that I will love you and cherish you, and that I’ll let you have the remote every once in a while, and I’ll try to clean up after myself.”

Marlene responded: “I give you this ring as a symbol that I will love you and cherish you, and that I’ll try not to nag you about spending too much time with the guys, and I may even make you dinner once in a while.”

After tossing the bouquet, Marlene splashed Edward, who reciprocated, and they had a wet kiss.

“We just don’t take life seriously,” Marlene told the Post. “I mean, life’s too short.”

—Ted Pease