Serving Our Seniors Magazine: Jan - Mar 2022

Lake Erie Love BETTY AND THANDA MACEO Thanda and Betty Maceo are age 62 and live in Sandusky. They have been married for 13 years and have a lot in common. Both had been married, previously; are successful education professionals and both are passionate about their work. They met through a mutual friend. They were fixed up, so-to-speak. Betty said she was not looking for a relationship at the time. In fact, she thought she was done with love. That is until their friend and colleague, Dr. Jo-Ann Sanders, arranged for the two to have lunch, together. Thanda, on the other hand was looking forward to this introduction and fond of the notion of a love connection. He described their courtship as a strong and developing relationship, which withstood the interrogation of Betty’s two granddaughters ages 3, 6 and her grandson who was 8 years old, at the time. Nine months later, Thanda popped the question on bended knee at the shores of Lake Erie. Betty said she wasn’t expecting it, but it felt right. She accepted Thanda’s proposal of marriage. They married on November 7, 2008. Betty had two children from her first marriage, who were already grown and on their own. After the wedding, she inherited two twin teenage daughters. “They put us through the ringer,” they said as they laughed. Thanda described Betty as “a God-send.” They raised the girls together using a united front. It worked, too. Today, one daughter is a lawyer and the other is an epidemiologist. For Betty, she knows that her husband accepts her as she is. “In this marriage I have found my voice and I speak it. That was something I did not do before.” In other words, in the past she would censor herself to keep the peace. She appreciates that her husband is a confident and non- confrontational man. “He is one of the most caring men I have ever met,” she said. For instance, if Betty says something brisk, “He will look at me with a smirk and say, you don’t mean that.” Thanda said, “I realized that I never met the woman that I really needed to be with, until I met continued on page 11 9