When Jennifer Anne Carpenter Welch first met Rodney William Page, she recalled threatening to “reposition his face.”
It was April 1979, and the two eighth graders were waiting at a bus stop in Clearwater, Florida. Mr. Peich and a friend were trying to prank Welch's younger brother. Mr. Page was ready to push him, so his friend went to his hands and knees behind the boy. That's when my caregiver intervened – strong.
“I made a mental note to stay away from her, fearing my physical happiness,” Page said.
When they met each other around school for the next four years, there was no communication. Welch told people he didn't like Page, but after a friend he dated said he was an “OK guy,” Welch developed a curiosity. “I thought he was cute and asked another friend to invite him to a late-night party,” she said.
In September 1983, Page came to the party after attending a concert at work. He said he was impressed that she “growed and looked good.”
Welch felt bold and approached him. “It was thrilled to learn that Rodney has a sense of humor,” she said.
“I was shocked that Jennifer fell in love with me,” Page said.
They headed towards the driveway and kissed him before he walked through her house. The next weekend they went “big cold” and ate popcorn and laughed. “We made it after we got home,” Welch said.
They dated throughout the last year of high school. When Page played baseball, Welch attended his game. They attended Homecoming and Senior Prom together. He wore a purple cummerband to match her purple dress.
However, the timing was bad. They split after graduation, each attending college in another city in Florida. “There was no hostility,” Welch said. “We were two teenagers who had our lives ahead of us.”
They are now 59, and remain friends and chatted at a 10th year high school reunion. “He still made me laugh,” she said.
Welch was born in Worcester, Ohio, and, like Page, grew up in St. Petersburg and Clearwater. She attended the University of Florida and then moved to Northern University, Ohio. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in pharmacy and has since worked as a clinical pharmacist in the intensive care unit at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. She has two children from a marriage that ended in divorce.
Born in Iowa City, Page graduated from Florida State University with a bachelor's degree in English. He is a retired sports reporter for the St. Petersburg Times and currently works part-time at the golf course at St. Petersburg Country Club. He has two children from his previous marriage. His wife died of cancer in August 2021.
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“I called Jen for advice on various medications,” Page said of the month he was caring for his wife.
A few months after his wife passed away, Page asked Welch what it would be like to go to his first date at age 55. She said, “I didn't know because every guy I met stopped dating when my kids wanted him to be second to me.”
In December 2021, when Page asked Welch about an hour from her Dayton home, at the James Taylor Concert in Columbus, Ohio, she waited 48 hours to say yes. “I didn't want to ruin our friendship,” she said.
Page stayed in a guest room at Welch's house Friday night. They enjoyed crepes at Dayton's historic 2nd Street market on Saturday morning before heading to Columbus for a concert, where they spent the evening at the hotel. On Sunday, they took a walk around Dayton's Carillon Historical Park and saw the Christmas lights.
“It seemed like our 100-day date,” Page said. “I knew there was no one else.”
Welch agreed. “I laughed endlessly throughout the weekend,” she said.
They played Wordle every morning at 9:30am and visited once a month to ensure long distances were not a hindrance. However, when Welch asked Page if he would remarry, he said no.
“After spending the weekend with her, I realized how much I missed Jen and when I realized that she didn't want to be someone else's girlfriend for the rest of her life, I decided whether we would last for two years or not, I would suggest.”
On December 11, 2023, Welch sat in the family room in her house when Page came in and announced that he didn't want to be his boyfriend anymore. She stood up and said she began to speak nervously as he fell to one knee. “I want you to be my fiancé.”
Surprised and excited, she said yes.
On April 19, 73 guests married 73 guests in the courtyard of the Don Cesar Hotel in St. Petersburg Beach, where the bride's childhood home was. The traditional ceremony, 46 years after they met, was presided over by the bride's friend Sean Marie Fry, appointed through Universal Life Church.
When the groom moves to Dayton in May, the couple will live together for the first time. Both are ready for adjustments. “I'm neat, he's not,” she said. “He can't fix anything, I don't cook. But we'll solve it. After all these years, Rodney makes me feel happy, important and safe.”
Page agreed. “She's smarter than me, everyone's kind and much more interesting than she thinks,” he said. “And her laugh is contagious.”
