A kerfuffle in the corner leads to marriage for these central Newfoundland seniors
Former hockey pro George Faulkner and his wife Barbara Jean found love in the hallways of retirement home
It started with the chance encounter of two people banging into one another — literally.
And last week, it culminated in a wedding.
George Faulkner, 89, and Barbara Paddock, 85, say you're never too old to fall in love — and they believe a little bit of destiny helped them along the way.
Faulkner, best known as the first professional hockey player from Newfoundland and Labrador, had been living in the Hollett Retirement Centre in Grand Falls-Windsor for about a year before his bride-to-be moved in just down the hall.
Paddock was living across the road in a seniors' cottage when she says a voice inside her said someone at the home needed her help. A few days later she was looking at potential rooms with the manager. Within months she was moved in.
Five days after settling in, while heading back to her room from breakfast, she rounded a blind corner and collided with Faulkner.
"I wasn't looking. I don't think he was either," she said.
"I just stood there and it was just like my feet were glued to the floor. I wasn't moving, he wasn't moving and here we were waiting for somebody to move, or to speak, or to do something — get out of the way. So anyway, when we got our composure back, he said, 'Let me give you a hug.'"
Paddock said she hadn't had a hug all through the COVID-19 pandemic and was "dying for a hug."
"I would have hugged a bear, I think, if I'd had to come around the corner. So anyway, he gave me a hug and I went back to my room and … I looked up and I said, 'Oh god, it's not him, is it? It's not him that needs me.'"
Faulkner piped in with a laugh.
"That's exactly what happened … and I didn't have my skates on either yet, so I couldn't get away from her, you know," he said.
After that encounter, they became fast friends and started spending more time together.
"When I found out he was the famous, the one and only hockey player, that traveled the world, went everywhere ... I said, 'Oh, no, how is this going to work?'" Paddock said. "I don't know anything about hockey. I don't know a thing about sports. This is not going to work. We're from two different worlds."
The next step
Their worlds were becoming one, however, and a few months later Faulkner decided it was time to take the relationship further.
"Barbara was in the bathroom … and I was sitting back just waiting for her to come out and I said, 'I'm going to propose to her,'" Faulkner said. "So I got down on one knee … and when she came out, I asked her if she would marry me."
Faulkner said his injured knee, which came as a result of his playing career, didn't help his case.
"I went down on one knee and I couldn't get back up," he said.
After a short pause, Paddock said yes. She admits Faulkner's health was on her mind.
She said it took a while for her to answer, explaining she wasn't expecting a proposal.
"When he got on his knee it frightened me to death. 'George, what are you doing down there? I told you not to do that.' And he was down and couldn't get up," Paddock said.
A few mobility issues, however, have not slowed their relationship.
The two became inseparable and despite being in their 80s they've been living every minute to the fullest with regular trips to church and even dates to restaurants.
"Everything is falling in place," Faulkner said. "There's no doubt about it. And we're feeling good about it all. So what else can you ask for, really? We're happy," he said.
That happiness is aplenty at the retirement home.
"I don't know when I was so happy and I never laughed so much in my life since I met this crazy man," Paddock said.
So what's the key to finding love when retired?
"It doesn't matter how old you are," Faulkner said. "As long as you got your faculties and you love each other, that's all that matters, really."
Paddock agrees.
"Everybody needs somebody," she said. "Everybody needs love in the world we're living in today."
She said that first hug sealed the deal.
"That hug did it. I mean, I just connected to him.… It was destined to be."