Persistent suitor John makes it third time lucky

SECOND-TIME around Valentines’ Day groom John Walsh, 62, admitted yesterday he proposed three times to widow Ann McMahon, 59, before she said “yes”.

The couple were married at Limerick City Registry Office 39 years after they first met at the Jetland Ballroom in Limerick.

After a brief romance in 1968, they split up, got married and had separate families.

John claimed he met Ann by pure chance in the Crescent Shopping centre in January, 2004, not having seen her for nearly 36 years. But Margaret McCoy, a friend of the couple, said John was telling a little white lie.

She revealed that John went in search of Ann after she told him a few days earlier she was working in the Crescent Shopping Centre.

“John was decorating my house in January 2004 and he asked me had I ever met Ann McMahon, as he hadn’t seen her since they split up in 1968. I told him she was working in Chic jewellers in the Crescent Shopping Centre. Three days later he tracked her down.”

Ann’s husband died in 2000 and John had divorced in 2002. As the couple headed off to the Woodlands Hotel in Adare for the reception, John revealed his bride played hard to get when he tried to win her heart second time around.

“We went on a few dates and out for meals and I kept ringing her.” But John’s engagement strategy didn’t go according to plan.

“I proposed three times before she said ‘yes’. That happened during a holiday in Bulgaria. I had planned to pop the question on top of the Eiffel Tower when we went for a weekend in Paris, but we were halfway up the lift when she seemed to sense something was going on and asked to go back down.”

They had been going out for about five months in 1968 before they split up.

“I had a fair bit of making up to do with Ann. You just don’t meet up after that length of time. You see it on TV,” he said.

For yesterday’s ceremony, Ann wore a three piece black and silver outfit with feather headpiece.

A picture of them on their first date in the Jetland was used on the invitations.

“I kept it all those years in an album as I always had a heart for him,” she said.

For the reception, attended by 150 guests, the happy couple were joined by Ann’s grown-up daughter Aisling and her sons Daniel and Martin.

John’s daughter Michelle flew in from London. Her brother Nigel and their mum Eva also attended.