True love? 71-year-old woman marries17-year-old teenage boy

A 71-year-old woman, Almeda Errell, got married to 17-year-old teenager, Gary Hardwick, just three weeks after she met him at the funeral of her 49 year old son. 


After a whirlwind three-week romance, the pensioner and the teenage boy tied the knots in a ceremony he arranged within 6 days for just about $200 in six days. The couple consummated their relationship for the first time on their wedding night.

Gary said:

"It was wonderful, beyond my wildest dreams,". "She really is my dream woman and the physical side of our relationship couldn't be better." "It was the best ever."

Almeda who is a supermarket assistant, agreed saying:

"I'd never had a connection like it before." "I wasn't looking for a young man, but Gary just came along," said Almeda, a supermarket assistant. "I just knew straight away that he was the one."

I'd been married to my first husband Donald for 43 years, and so when he died in 2013 after seven months in hospital from complications with diabetes, I found myself on my own,' said Almeda. I'd turn up for work in tears and my colleagues would ask me what was wrong. Deep down, I was searching for a soulmate. 

Gary, whose attraction to older women started with a crush on a teacher at the age of eight, said he had also been feeling trapped in an unhappy relationship with his 77-year-old lover. 

"We were always fighting,' said Gary. "I fell into depression and was looking for a way out."

As soon as he broke up with his 77 year girlfriend, he went to confess his love for Almeda. 

"It was an instant thing for me too," said Gary. "She had the most gorgeous, sparkling blue eyes. When I told Lisa that I liked Almeda, she said that Almeda liked me too and that she should get us together."

"Some family members thought Gary was far too young for me, and that I must be crazy," said Almeda. "I told him I wasn't crazy, and that we loved each other."

Two weeks after their first date, Gary proposed to her on the phone and she had no hesitation in accepting it.
Six days later, Gary had hurriedly arranged everything cheap.

Almeda wore a dress borrowed from his cousin as they married in the gardens outside Lisa's flat where they'd shared their first kiss.

Since their wedding in October, Gary has tattooed their names across his chest and the couple are now living in Almeda's five-bedroom house, in Sevierville, Tennessee, USA with her daughter DeAnna, 40, and grandchildren Aaron, 21, and Indianna, 16.

Gary has also started working at another supermarket, but is applying for a transfer to the same one as Almeda's so they can be together all the time.

Gary said: 

"Almeda is so young at heart that age never bothers us, we never really think about it. I just know that God answered my prayers that day she walked into my life."

She added: 'The one thing I've learnt is that when you truly love somebody, it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks."