Wisconsin State Journal :: LIVING WELL :: H1
Sunday, March 22, 2009
By SANDRA KALLIO
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608-252-6181
 The bride wore Nike.
She had a veil, too, thanks to Latonya and Joe Rollins' last-minute wedding planners, nurse Marcy Gathy and social worker Betty Glanzer of HospiceCare Inc.
Latonya, 31, and Joe, 38, had previously purchased wedding rings in anticipation of their marriage, but, she says, "Everything kept getting in our way."
"Everything" included Joe's failing health - the reason the couple contacted HospiceCare for help in December 2008, several years after he had been diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease.
Eager to help Joe reach his remaining goals, the HospiceCare team arranged for a home visit by Dane County Clerk Robert Ohlsen and paid the $100 marriage license fee. That was a big step in the wedding direction, but Joe's cancer tripped up plans for a ceremony at their Madison home.
Two weeks later, while an inpatient at the Anderson HospiceCare Center in Fitchburg, Joe proposed a wedding that very day to Latonya.
Within hours on Jan. 22, the staff had reserved the center's chapel and HospiceCare chaplain Bob Groth's time; e-mailed invitations; secured a volunteer wedding photographer; purchased a veil, cake and flowers, and arranged for the couple's 10-year-old son Shemar to serve as ring-bearer, their 9-year-old daughter Shawanda to be the flower girl and their youngest, "Little Joe," 6, to join his family at the altar after HospiceCare public affairs director Dan Chin (aka the photographer's husband) walked the bride down the aisle to the teary-eyed groom.
The ceremony was set to start when the wedding planners realized they had no music. HospiceCare volunteer coordinator Toya Robinson stepped in to sing Whitney Houston's "You Were Loved," improvising to personalize the lyrics.
Joe rallied that day, standing up from his wheelchair for the entire service and cracking jokes about the rings, then later solemnly pledging his love for Latonya "till death parts us."
After the newlyweds kissed, the groom beamed and the bride turned to the chapel full of supporters to exclaim "I'm Mrs. Rollins!" before texting the good news to distant relatives and friends.
She no longer worried about her outfit for the surprise wedding: "I felt like a bum, but then I thought about it. It ain't about the clothes. It's about who I married."
She married the love of her life, Joe Rollins, whose smile lingers in memories of those he touched. On Feb. 9, he died sitting in bed with his wife at his side.
As published in the Wisconsin State Journal
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