A New York Times wedding announcement headlined “Sharing Golf Clubs and Now Their Lives” told the story of a couple that met in 2008 through the Central Connecticut Golf Meetup, part of an online service that matches people with a common interest.
A wedding announcement in The New York Times reported on the marriage of Kathleen Ann Colello and Mark Wayne Nixon, who tied the knot on November 26 nine years after first meeting through the Central Connecticut Golf Meetup, part of an online service that brings together people with a common interest.
Published under the headline, “Sharing Golf Clubs and Now Their Lives,” the Times announcement described how Colello, now 65, used the site because she wanted to learn how to play the game, while Nixon, an avid golfer who is now 59, went to it “to find partners to play with, and to take advantage of some extra time on my hands since I was divorced and already had two grown children.”
But on the day that was arranged for the online group to meet at a golf course, the Times reported, Nixon found that Colello had arrived with plenty of determination, but no golf clubs.
“I had taken golf lessons and been to the driving range many times, but I wasn’t at the point yet where I was going to make an investment in my own set of clubs, plus I thought they would be provided,” Colello, a marketing and development specialist who also works for ESPN, explained. “So I asked other people in the group if anyone was willing to share their clubs with me.”
Seeing an opening, Nixon, owner of the Stark’s Express trucking company in East Hartford, Conn., stepped up to help Colello out. “She seemed friendly, and she was a very pretty woman with blonde hair,” he explained to the Times. “We stayed together and played nine holes. It was fun.”
The following week, Colello again arrived at the course with no clubs—“It was a busy week, and I hadn’t had a chance to buy them” she explained—and Nixon once again swung into action.
“He was just the sweetest guy,” she said. “We talked and we golfed and I just found him to be very nice, and he had a great sense of humor and was very attractive.”
The next time Colello arrived at the course she had her own set of clubs, along with an invitation to go out for drinks with other members of the group, including Nixon. That led to first casual and then steady dating between the two for three years.
Although they then broke up for about a year, as Nixon had second thoughts about making another serious commitment, Colello decided to call him one day “out of the blue,” Nixon told the Times, to have him go with her to help her find a new car. And that trip reignited their passion, not only to play golf again together, but to make another more serious commitment as well.
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.