Vow renewal at Palmetto church gives couples a newlywed feeling

PALMETTO -- Staring into each others' eyes as they repeated their marriage vows for the first time since their wedding, Gracie and Richard Wenzel looked like a couple of newlyweds on Valentine's Day.

Holding each other and smiling in a way that drew the attention of almost everyone around them during Sunday morning worship at Family of God United Methodist Church in Palmetto, Gracie, 84, and Richard, 88, could've been freshly back from their honeymoon.

In fact, that wasn't far from the truth. Standing in a crowd of fellow congregants who also renewed their vows during the group ceremony to mark the romantic holiday, the Wenzels might have been the only couple that hadn't gotten hitched decades ago. They've only been married three and a half years.

In that comparatively short span, their romance has only gotten more intense. They sing as a couple at jamborees, they polka twice a week and still cannot get enough of each other.

"I never took my eyes off his beautiful blue eyes," Gracie Wenzel said just minutes after repeatedly kissing her husband amidst a sea of smiles.

The mass vow renewal was the first the church has ever held. The Rev. Alan Jackson, the church's pastor,

said holding the ceremony was "a romantic gesture." Addressing his congregation, he humorously characterized St. Valentine's feast day as a "sneaky Christian celebration" that has worked itself into the secular world as no other religious holiday has. It is celebrated in public schools, workplaces and almost every sector of society, he said.

"We get the whole world to remember what love is and no one sees it coming," he said.

For David and Nadine McCue of Palmetto, Family of God members who have been married 40 years, the vow renewal added to the joy to the holiday.

"It made you feel good," Nadine McCue said.

Even for those who had renewed their vows before, the morning was special. Jean Archambault, who has been married to her husband Jim for 65 years, said she was pleasantly surprised when she woke up on Valentine's Day to hear Frank Sinatra's "My Funny Valentine" playing on the stereo and to find her husband ready to celebrate.

"He handed me a cup of coffee and told me he loved me," she said. "And there were Valentines all over the place."

The couple estimates they have renewed their vows about 20 times. They were planning to do it again later in the day during a community gathering near their home at Piney Point.

Family of God got its start in the 1950s when the owners of the former Skyline Drive-in theater began inviting local pastors to preach at the concession stand. The congregation chartered with the United Methodist Church in 1983.

Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7027 or on Twitter @MattAtBradenton.

This story was originally published February 14, 2016 at 11:42 PM with the headline "Vow renewal at Palmetto church gives couples a newlywed feeling ."