Mann’s neighbor also lovingly described the couple: “This man is 94 years old, and I see him outside chopping down trees, dragging logs out of the woods with his old Ford tractor, stacking firewood and cutting the grass. Then I see him and Gert running around like two high school sweethearts, holding hands and kissing, and driving to New York City on weekends. If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it.”
“Age doesn’t mean a damn thing to me or to Gert,” the groom said. “We don’t see it as a barrier. We still do what we want to do in life.” Credit Justin Gilliland/The New York Times
Last year, Mr. Mann officially became the oldest person to graduate from Mount St. Mary College. The school also handed him an honorary doctorate this past May. At 93-years-old, he drove 80 miles round trip twice a week for almost two and a half years to gain the 30 credits needed to retrieve a degree he had begun the process of retaining in his 70s, while he lived in another home in Tequesta, Fla. He banged out 60 credits at Palm Beach State College nearby, and 30 more credits at Florida Atlantic University, before finishing up at Mount St. Mary.
“We studied many historical events like World War II and the Vietnam and Korean Wars, but this was stuff I had actually lived through,” Mr. Mann giggled. “No wonder I aced most of my exams.”
Keith Schuler, who has been the neighbor of Mr. Mann for the past 20 years, called him “an inspiration, and an incredible human.
Mr. Schuler was on hand at City Hall for the ceremony, which he called “a once-in-a-lifetime event,” along with several other attendees who ranged in age from Ms. Mokotoff’s 7-month-old great-grandson, Jack Handman, to the bride herself. (Ms. Mokotoff would have been the second-oldest person at her wedding if her older brother, Fred, who is currently 103, had been able to attend.)
During the ceremony, the groom wooed his guests with several stories about his new bride, including the first time she slept over his house.
Click “Next” to find out about what happened at this sleepover…
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