Mark and Barbara Temples: Love at 80

Most people have heard the age-old idiom “love at first sight,” but for Mark and Barbara Temples, their love hid in plain sight for around seven decades.

The couple had known each other in high school, but were never romantically involved. In fact, Mark married someone else in 1955: Barbara’s best friend, Marjorie. Barbara watched the love story between Mark and Marjorie; in turn, Mark and Marjorie showed their support for Barbara’s relationship with another classmate, Ed Skelton, by attending both their wedding shower and wedding in 1957.

Little did Mark and Barbara know that decades later, through a stroke of serendipity, they would have their own unconventional love story during a chapter of life in which finding love is unexpected.

Barbara worked as an X-ray technician in Gainesville, and Ed went into the military as a pilot. The Skeltons lived in Hiawassee for 16 years. They traveled and enjoyed their years together, and had four children and four grandchildren. However, Ed’s stint in the military slowly caught up to him–while serving his country in Vietnam, he had been injured, which gradually led to brain atrophy and a related mental disease. Barbara watched his health decline and faithfully took care of him until his death in 2006.

Meanwhile, Mark and Marjorie also had four children and some grandchildren, and Marjorie died in 2016 after struggling with Alzheimer’s. Just as Barbara took care of Ed during his mental disease, Mark took care of Marjorie until her death–a shared difficult experience that Barbara and Mark would eventually bond over.

Barbara remained in Hiawassee, then eventually moved back to Hartwell to take care of her older sister, Louise, as her health deteriorated. Although Barbara returned to Hartwell out of familial duty, her move back to her hometown eventually brought unexpected love as she reunited with Mark.

Mark had remained in Hartwell and attended Sardis Baptist Church since he was eight years old. When Barbara came back to Hartwell, she started to teach the Sunday school class for senior ladies there. Every time the Sunday school got out of church and the classes came into the sanctuary, they saw each other. (Mark sat towards the back of the sanctuary, and Barbara would often be the last one to come in because she taught.) However, the first glimmers of their romance can be traced back to a more unexpected encounter in 2017.

“He was sitting up there by himself in the Huddle House, and I came in really dirty. I had been digging in the dirt, and I thought, ‘Oh, I won’t see anybody [I know],’” Barbara recalled. “I saw everybody! And our [friends from church] said, ‘Look who’s sitting there by himself!’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s Mark! I’ll go talk to him.’”

Around this time, Mark had begun to pray about his loneliness since Marjorie’s death. His youngest daughter, Patricia, encouraged him, “Daddy, don’t sit around here and be lonely. Get out and find somebody.”

“[I started praying] at night, on my knees, beside the bed,” Mark remembered. “And in the morning, when I woke up, I’d roll out of bed and get on my knees and do the same thing…The Bible tells us God has a plan for us from the cradle to the grave. And [I prayed] if there’s another lady in His plan for me, bring her forward.”

His prayers were quickly answered. “One Sunday morning, as [Barbara] was coming out of her Sunday school class and I was sitting [towards the back of the sanctuary], she came back there and we started talking,” Mark said. He was consistent in these prayers for a few weeks, until “she came on down that aisle,” foreshadowing how not long afterwards, she would walk down the same aisle to meet him once again.

“We saw we had a lot to talk about because of knowing each other and because we both went through the same experiences,” Barbara said.

They started going out to eat together regularly, but kept their relationship private. When Mark asked Barbara to marry him, many of their loved ones were still unaware they were dating. Their families were shocked but melded beautifully, especially since their children already knew each other from school; Barbara believes this was “Godsent.”

“I mean, I was 80 years old! To say ‘I’m dating’ really sounded kind of silly!” Barbara said, and they both laughed. “But we kept it quiet, didn’t tell our children, nobody. And Mark asked me to marry him and we still didn’t tell anybody for awhile. I kept thinking, ‘What are they gonna say?’...I think Todd, my oldest, was most surprised. He said, ‘You’re getting married?!’ And he was on top of a roof…and I thought, ‘Please don’t fall!’ But he was delighted. And my oldest daughter just adores Mark; she sends him carrot cakes and spoils him just a little bit. And everybody just accepted it.”

Their friends and extended family were equally thrilled: “I finally got enough courage to tell my Sunday school class,” Barbara said. “I called [my friend, who was also friends with Marjorie and I in high school] and said, ‘Can you keep a secret for about three hours?’ and she said ‘Yeah, what is it?’ I told her I was getting married and I wanted to tell my Sunday school class before I told my friends, because I knew she’d [practically] get on the radio station and announce it. She said it was all she could do to keep from getting on the phone! So I went to church, and I teach so I made the announcements, and I said, ‘Oh, I have one more announcement that’s really important! Sometime really soon, Mark and Barbara are going to become Mr. and Mrs.’ And you had never seen mouths drop [like that]; [Mark’s] cousin’s mouth hit the floor! And one of them was jumping around in the back, she was so excited.”

Barbara said she was also inspired by another senior couple: “There were people in our church who were 84 and 86 who had gotten married not long before us…they could hardly stand up. They were so cute. I thought they seemed so happy, and I thought, ‘Well, they got married. Why can’t we?’”

About three weeks later, on April 18, 2018, Mark and Barbara got married in a small, private wedding at that church, with their two favorite pastors and their children. Mark was 81 and Barbara was 80. The couple recalled the special day with a touch of humor.

“I have a hard time remembering, so I told [the preacher], don’t stretch [the vows] into long things I have to remember. I told him, ‘Take it slow and take it easy.’ And…he did!” Mark said, and they both laughed.

“He did about two words at a time,” Barbara added with a laugh. “It was fun and we all stayed, and then we brought some of my kids home with us [so they could see where I stayed]. And then in the driveway, we saw a double rainbow. We had based our getting married on faith, because we were both believers. And I thought that was just a good sign that God approved.”

Although their shared past and the friendship between Barbara and Marjorie may seem like a barrier to romance, Mark and Barbara both said they have open minds and that on the contrary, it “doesn’t leave any barriers.” Their current house is even Marjorie’s brother’s old house. Their shared generational values and memories, their similar life experiences, and their backgrounds in Hart County helped them relate to each other and view each other with added perspective.

“We talk about our spouses a lot, and happenstances,” Barbara said.

A few years after their marriage, the couple faced a series of tragedies. However, these also brought them closer together. Mark’s youngest daughter, Patricia, who had urged him to “find somebody,” died in 2022; three weeks later, a day after their children moved the last load of belongings into their new house, Mark’s son Tony died. Barbara’s sister, Louise, who she returned to Hartwell to care for, died another three weeks later at age 97.

Mark and Barbara agreed that they were able to help each other through these hardships, which further confirms to them that their marriage was meant to be.

“I think God may have put us together, to lean on each other,” Barbara said.

Mark and Barbara’s lives were two parallel lines running their own courses for years until they intersected again, when they least expected it. Their shared faith and experiences provide a strong foundation for their marriage, both in tragedy and joy.

“I thank God every day for bringing us together,” Mark said.