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Giving hearts find love

A funny thing happened to Bob Ekker, 82, and Claire Brooks, 76, while they were volunteering at Citrus Memorial: They fell in love. Friday the Inverness residents were married in the hospital's chapel.

By SHAWNTAYE HOPKINS
Published August 13, 2005

INVERNESS - Bob Ekker and Claire Brooks got married Friday afternoon in the quaint, three-bench chapel at Citrus Memorial Hospital.

Holding the ceremony there was most appropriate, they said.

Ekker, 82, and Brooks, 76, both Inverness residents, met at the hospital while volunteering in October. They never expected to find love there. But companionship was something they both wanted to experience again.

Both their spouses had died.

When Ekker proposed about three months ago, Brooks suggested they take their time, not rush.

But he suggested that they didn't have time.

"It was so sweet," Brooks said. "He stood in my kitchen and proposed. It took me not 30 seconds to say yes. He is so sweet."

The proposal, she said, was simple: "Would you consider marrying me?"

They married at the chapel on the hospital's main floor among family, friends and hospital employees. She wore a light green pants suit with a striped jacket. He wore gray slacks and a blue collared shirt.

Brooks often turned, grinning, back at the crowd.

Some hospital staff peeked into the room before moving on.

"That was the sweetest things I've ever seen in my entire life," said one woman in scrubs after the ceremony. She was in tears.

"I just think it's so cute, after all these years," another hospital employee replied.

After the ceremony, which lasted about 15 minutes, some workers hugged the new Mrs. Ekker and checked out the ring. A reception was held down the hall in another room.

Brooks has volunteered at the hospital since 1997. In the medical office, she works as a hostess and is the volunteer pharmacy chairwoman.

She volunteers from 8 a.m. to noon Thursdays.

Ekker began volunteering in May 2004.

He arrived one Thursday at the front desk, where Brooks worked answering calls and greeting guests. He introduced himself, and they talked.

He had transferred from the transportation department of the hospital.

Brooks trained Ekker in making the rounds - which meant picking up specimens and taking them to the lab.

Ekker took a shift on Thursday afternoons. He arrived early and talked to Brooks before she wrapped up her day. Several of these conversations were about food and preparing one-person dishes.

But in another talk, Brooks invited Ekker to have coffee at her home on a Saturday morning.

"From then on we fell into a pattern of seeing and talking to each other until a romance actually developed," Brooks said.

Penny Zaphel, manager of the hospital's volunteer services, performed the marriage ceremony. She said Ekker and Brooks have caring hearts, constantly giving to others.

They were rewarded, she said, when they found each other.

[Last modified August 12, 2005, 19:16:02]