Nonagenarians find love after the death of a man’s wife. Now they are newly married

• Jo Cartwright, 96, and Bernard Snyder, 98, found love for each other after the deaths of their longtime spouses
• “No one is more surprised than me!” Cartwright tells PEOPLE after the couple’s wedding on November 1
• “They absolutely went crazy at the wedding,” adds Snyder’s daughter Donna, who says the happy couple didn’t even “sit down at the reception.”

After the death of her husband of 68 years, Jo Cartwright never thought about marrying again. She moved into a retirement community, played bridge, did crafts, and went out for coffee and dinner with her friends. “Women are busy,” she says. “I was completely satisfied.”

But earlier this year she fell in love with 98-year-old Bernard Snyder and the two married on November 1st.

“No one is more surprised than me!” Cartwright, 96, tells PEOPLE, “It’s wonderful to know that you can love again.”

Cartwright’s husband died in 2014 and a few years later she moved to Westminster Retirement Community in Austin in 2017.

There she recognized Snyder and his wife of over 70 years, Hermyne. The couple, who had recently moved into the retirement community themselves, had previously lived a few doors down from Cartwright’s son.

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“I was so impressed by how gentle and kind he was with his wife,” Cartwright remembers. “I thought he was such a nice person, but I never thought there would ever be anything between us.”

Then, in July 2023, Hermyne died at the age of 92 after suffering from heart failure and dementia.

“My mother was an absolute hothead. She swore like a sailor. She was one of the funniest people you could ever meet. She was tough, she was pushy and everyone loved her,” daughter Donna Snyder, 73, tells PEOPLE .

Donna, a retired lawyer, says her father was absolutely “devoted” to his wife during their 73-year marriage – so much so that after her death, she and her siblings wondered whether he could even “survive.”

And after his wife’s death, Snyder initially ate alone in his room, even though his children “worked really hard” to get him to invite people over. “He didn’t want to do it. He was just shy,” says Donna.

But eventually other residents invited him to dinner and he accepted the offer, which eventually paved the way for love.

Snyder says he noticed Cartwright eating with a group of her friends one evening. “She was so charming,” says Snyder, 98, who owned a chain of women’s clothing stores in Brownsville, McAllen and Austin before working in commercial real estate and the stock market. “I was in love.”

He invited her to his 98th birthday party on January 21 – and the couple started having dinner every night after that.

“She’s a joy to be with,” the World War II Navy veteran added. “She’s just a very kind and loving person.”

So he brought her flowers and ice cream – and pulled out her chair and held doors open for her.

“He loved her,” adds his daughter, who once said she was afraid her father might actually scare Cartwright away. “And then I thought, ‘Who am I to know how a 98-year-old man dates after losing his 73-year marriage? I don’t know what’s right,” she adds.

Donna says her father also kept checking in on her and her siblings to make sure they were okay.

“I always said, ‘No, no, no, no, no. There’s nothing more than you being happy,'” she adds, pointing out that it wasn’t like her father left his mother for another woman either.

Cartwright – who, in addition to being a wife, mother and grandmother, once owned a gift shop with a good friend – said that Snyder was just “sweet and thoughtful” throughout their relationship.

Then one day he had the idea to take the next step.

“He said, ‘Why don’t we get married?’ And I said, ‘Well, I think you’re crazy,'” Cartwright adds. But he was so kind and caring, and the more she got to know him, the more her “love for him” grew.

After a few months she agreed to marry him.

In March, the couple shared the news with their family, which admittedly came as a bit of a shock. But when that was over, all we could do was throw the best celebration ever – and that’s exactly what happened.

“They absolutely went crazy at the wedding,” says Donna, who says the happy couple didn’t even “sit down for the reception.”

Another hilarious moment came when it was time to start their honeymoon at a hotel.

“We walk them in, both with walkers, and we get to the door of the room and Jo turns to Dad and says, ‘Well, won’t you carry me over the threshold?'” says Donna. “And instead he pushed her over the threshold in the walker.”

“It was so sweet,” she adds.

But perhaps the most satisfying thing for Donna was not just watching her father find love again, but seeing him find a different kind of love than he had experienced before.

Although she initially thought their relationship was all about companionship, Donna says she “realized it was the most extraordinary love story.”

“With Jo, my dad finally has someone who absolutely loves it when he pulls her chair out and asks her how she feels,” she explains. “He finally had someone who absolutely appreciates and appreciates those qualities in him and that’s the best thing because he’s the sweetest, kindest man.”

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Now that they are married, the newlyweds are looking forward to spending the rest of their days together.

“We really love each other,” Snyder says. “She is a wonderful person and a kind, loving person.”

He tells his story so people know that it’s never too late to fall in love – even if you’re almost 100.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” Cartwright adds. “To think that a man would come into your life, I just couldn’t imagine that. And it just happened. I feel grateful and blessed. We both feel blessed. Love has triumphed.”

Her advice: “Never give up on love. Anything can happen.”