Marvin Hersel, 90, and Maria Luisa Chavez, 83, have tackled situations in life by jumping or grabbing onto them.
Mr. Hersel, who was born in 1935, grew up on a farm in North Dakota, where, at around 6 years old, he learned how to milk cows. Around the same age, he remembered a moment when he really wanted to ride a horse. He got the bridle on and leaped onto the horse’s back.
“I was on a horse by myself, no saddle, nothing, just a set of reins,” Mr. Hersel said. “But the horse never did anything to try and buck me off.”
In 1956, Ms. Chavez was 14 and working at her father’s grocery store in Chihuahua, Mexico. She recalled a man who kept stealing from the store. One day, she hid behind the counter, knowing that this man would try to snag some merchandise while her father had walked away.
She popped up and grabbed his arm when the man reached over the counter.
“I told my father, ‘I got him! I got him!’ I was scared,” Ms. Chavez said. “But we got him.”
Decades later, their bodies don’t allow them to physically lunge and leap as when they were younger, but they still jump at opportunities.
In July 2025, when Ms. Chavez was moving into East Wenatchee Senior Living in East Wenatchee, Wash., Mr. Hersel wasted little time approaching Ms. Chavez, who was going to be living across the hall.
“When I first met her, I said, ‘Where’s your husband?’” said Mr. Hersel, who at that point had been living at the facility for about a year and a half. His wife died a week before his two daughters moved him into the facility in 2023 from his home of 30 years in Wenatchee, Wash.
Ms. Chavez’s husband died in June 2022, and she was moving in because even though she was previously living with her daughter and son-in-law in Quincy, Wash., she found that she was alone a lot while the couple worked.
When Ms. Chavez responded by saying that her husband was in a better place, Mr. Hersel replied, “You can say that again.”
After their brief exchange, Mr. Hersel said he thought to himself, “Oh, here we go!” and then he sprang into courting action.
A few days later, on a bus ride with other residents to a nearby diner, Mr. Hersel bought everyone candy. He sat next to Ms. Chavez and gave her more candy than everyone else, and then he put his hand on her knee. Ms. Chavez snatched it away.
“He kept asking, ‘Are you OK?’” she said. “I said, ‘Yes, I’m fine.’ Then he said again, ‘Are you OK?’ ‘Sure, I am fine.’ And then I thought, Why are you asking so much?”
Ms. Chavez realized it was Mr. Hersel’s way of trying to be attentive, more so than any of the other residents had been with her.
“Well, then he put his hand again, and then I didn’t move the hand because it felt really good. I’m always cold, and his hand was warm,” said Ms. Chavez.
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Over the next few months, Ms. Chavez, a former medical translator who traveled to various hospitals in Snohomish and King County, Wash., quickly got Mr. Hersel, a retired Navy Chief Gunner’s Mate who served in the Vietnam and Korean Wars, to open up. They traded childhood stories, including the ones about the horse and the grocery store.
“We were talking personal things, family and where we come from and what we need,” said Ms. Chavez, who said her conversations didn’t get that deep with other residents.
And Mr. Hersel was a good listener. When Ms. Chavez, who is also a certified raw food specialist, mentioned that her favorite tea was lemon balm, he immediately bought it online so he could make it for her in the morning. He uses two tea bags to make it stronger and brings it over in the morning for her across the hallway, normally while singing.
When he was ready to propose, he made it pretty clear.
“He kept saying, ‘I wanna marry you. I wanna get married to you,’” Ms. Chavez said.
On Nov. 23, Ms. Chavez’s daughter and son-in-law transformed the facility’s dining hall into a wedding venue for residents and family, including Mr. Hersel’s stepson, who was in attendance. Plastic greenery and white flowers were used to cover the television, and the seats were arranged to face a newly created altar. Ms. Chavez, who has four children, was escorted down the center aisle by her two sons. Her youngest son passed away two years ago.
Pastor Bryan Schwarz of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in East Wenatchee officiated before about 40 guests. The couple repeated their vows, but before Mr. Hersel placed the ring on Ms. Chavez’s finger, he sang to her the song “With This Ring I Thee Wed,” by Hank Snow.
They are in the process of moving in together at the senior living facility and plan to go on an Alaskan cruise with their families in the spring. While they’ve quickly incorporated their lives, they’ve been intentionally slow-moving about other things.
They eat breakfast separately, and it was only recently that Ms. Chavez formally invited Mr. Hersel to come sit at her all-women’s lunch table. At first, he was a bit quiet, but he’s opened up more with Ms. Chavez sitting next to him.
“They like him!” Ms. Chavez said.
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