It’s never too late to fall head over heels in love. Just ask Millie Taylor-Morrison and Harold Morrison, a New Jersey couple who wed on October 16 more than six decades after they first met.
Millie, an 86-year-old proud mother and grandmother, was married to her first husband for 41 years before he died in 1992. Years later, she reconnected with Harold, 85, who was actually a guest at her first wedding in 1952.“I used to sing in the choir and Harold attended my church,” Millie says. “I would be standing with the other choir members, waiting to walk out and he would come over and kiss me on the cheek before sitting down for the service.”“Then when I got married [to my first husband], the whole church was invited and Harold was there,” she continues.
Millie and Harold didn’t see each other again for many years until Harold joined her new church, New Beginning Faith Fellowship Ministries in Orange, New Jersey.“I used to admire him in church,” she says. “He dressed impeccably and I admire that in a man.”When Harold became sick, Millie and other church members would visit him at his house and she offered to drive him back and forth to services. When he got better, they continued to see each other. Eight years later, he became sick again to the point where he couldn’t live alone.
“I asked him if he wanted to live with me instead of a nursing home,” Millie says. “And he said, ‘Definitely.’ “When Harold got better a year later, Millie said to herself, “I love him, but I can’t have him living in my house…I have granddaughters and grandsons.”“I’m a Christian woman and I want to live a Christian life,” she says. “We decided that even though we were in our twilight years, we wanted to be pleasing in God’s eyes.”So the couple set a wedding date and tied the knot on Sunday at Zion Hill Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey, in front of 200 friends and family.
The couple’s grandchildren served in their bridal party.“It was a lovely day,” Millie’s granddaughter, Khadija Elkharbibi, 28, tells PEOPLE. “This isn’t a typical story most grandmothers don’t remarry or they give up on love. It’s amazing to see their love for each other.“Their wedding day was beautiful and she was a sight to see. Harold was emotional, he started to weep a little.”And Millie was every bit the glowing bride in a gorgeous wedding dress she designed herself.
“I had a vision of what I’d like this dress to be, so I asked a young man in my church who is an artist to sketch it and I took it to the dressmaker,” she shares. “Purple and lavender are my favourite colours.”When the stunning bride stood in front of the mirror for the first time, she “couldn’t believe it,” she says. “It was exactly what I wanted. I felt so wonderful.”The 86-year-old was all smiles at her wedding reception and she’s no stranger to posing for pictures. She used to model in the 1950s for Belle Mead Models, Inc.“I loved it,” she says of her modelling days.
“I kept doing it until my fourth child.”As for her sought-after beauty secrets, it’s a surprisingly simple regimen.“I’ve always used Pond’s Cold Cream and African shea butter,” she shares. “And I never drank, never smoked. I try to eat right and exercise.”A week into life as a newlywed, Millie says she’s happier than ever.“It’s wonderful. Things haven’t changed too much. We always pray over breakfast and he always says, ‘I love my Millie.’ Now he looks at me and says, ‘You’re my wife now,’ and I say, ‘And you’re my boo.’
