Man, 99 marries for first time; bride's 86

Gilbert Herrick says he never got married because he never met the right woman — until he turned 98.

Now 99, the World War II veteran and retired postal worker from western New York recently married 86-year-old Virginia Hartman, a widower who raised five children.

Gilbert tells the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester that their first encounter was in 2010 in a hall at Monroe Community Hospital, the nursing home where they both live. After that, he started visiting her every day.

Gilbert says they wanted to share a room, but the facility's rules don't allow it unless a couple is married. Hartman asked him if he wanted to tie the knot, he said yes and they were married on June 6 with Hartman's extended family on hand.