THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 9, 1995 TAG: 9503090416
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BARCO LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Rudolph Weth sat quietly in a wingback chair about noon Wednesday, clutching the bouquet of yellow roses he'd been holding since he left Sentara Nursing Center in Portsmouth.
Bartie Morgan sat on a nearby couch, looking her best in a silk blouse, dark skirt and flannel jacket and ready to receive those flowers in the front lounge of Sentara's nursing home in Barco.
Last month the two were contestants at the Portsmouth center's annual ``Dating Game,'' modeled after the popular television program that pairs up people for romantic getaways.
Morgan, 86, selected Weth, 62, after he said the perfect end to their date would be a proposal and trip to a motel. She said she'd take him up on it, and, over the hoots and hollers of 70 or so fellow residents, the two exchanged several kisses.
But that was a game. This here was a date.
``I wouldn't call it a date. I have a companion,'' Morgan said emphatically just before a stretch limousine donated by G.T.S. Limousines of Norfolk pulled up.
The couple also had other companions - two chaparones. One was Deborah Freeman, senior activities director at the Portsmouth facility; Diane Bray, her Currituck County counterpart, was the other.
``Love never dies. I don't care how old you are,'' Bray said as she watched the twosome enter Pickett's Seafood Hut holding hands.
Sitting side-by-side in a corner table of the Grandy restaurant, the pair selected their complimentary meals and then continued the conversation they'd begun in the car.
``This is the Cupid in me,'' Freeman whispered conspiratorially from a nearby table. ``I hope they strike a relationship.''
The Portsmouth director knows a lot about matchmaking, having put together several successful ``Dating Games'' and ``Love Connections'' for residents at her 132-bed nursing home.
``But this is the first year we've ventured out to another facility,'' she said.
The two centers, however, are no strangers to each other and frequently team up for social gatherings and events. Maybe that's one reason folks in Currituck were rooting for a romance to develop.
``Most residents are thrilled to death that Bartie was able to go out on her date,'' Bray said.
``Miss Bartie,'' as many Currituck folks know her, is a native Texan who has had many jobs, including nine years as a cafeteria worker at the Moyock Elementary School. She's been at the 100-bed Sentara Nursing Center four years now.
Weth is a lifelong Hampton Roads resident, born in Newport News and raised in Portsmouth. He spent 24 years as a tollkeeper for the Downtown Tunnel.
Both said Wednesday's date was their first in about 10 years.
And, from the frequent smiles, long talks and quick kiss the two exchanged, it looked to be far from their last.
``Very enjoyable,'' Weth said when they'd returned from the restaurant.
``It was fine,'' Morgan, the more reserved of the two, added. Later she would confide to a friend that Wednesday would be a day she'd never forget.
``I think each individual should have that one moment in time,'' a mooney-eyed Bray said. ``And this is their one moment.''
After their meal, they were driven away.
They passed a motel - but the limo didn't stop. The date ended as it had begun, back at the Barco center's lounge. Only this time the two sat together - on, appropriately enough, a loveseat. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
AN EVENING OUT
DREW C. WILSON/Staff
Bartie Morgan, 86, left, and Rudolph Weth, 62, share a laugh during
a date at Pickett's Seafood Hut in Grandy on Wednesday. Morgan
selected Weth to be her date in a ``Dating Game'' hosted by Sentara
Nursing Home.
by CNB