On the Fourth of July in 2018, James Sample, now 93, moved into Millcroft Senior Living after losing his wife of 50-years to dementia. His across-the-hall neighbor, Nancy, introduced herself as “Nancy 1,” and pointed down the hall to introduce him to “Nancy 2,” or Nancy Klein, now 89. Nancy Klein had one question for James: “Do you play bridge?”
Luckily, he did, and they still play every Saturday afternoon. They are recounting this story just after lunch on Valentine’s Day 2020 in their independent living apartment at Millcroft Senior Living in Newark, Delaware. Beside them is a beautiful bouquet of roses that James bought for Nancy.
James has some trouble hearing, but he has Nancy, who will put her hand on his leg and repeat what was said in his ear. And the help is reciprocated, as James will chime in if Nancy loses her train of thought. Besides these little things, you would never guess their age—they move about with ease and Nancy has on a great shade of lipstick.
James grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania while Nancy is from Indiana. James served in the Army during World War II and, upon returning to the U.S, went to the University of Michigan, for which he is proudly wearing a blue and gold sweatshirt.
DuPont brought both James and Nancy to Delaware in 1957 and 1952 respectively. James and Nancy’s late husband came to work there, and they worked together for years, but would never know each other. Meanwhile, Nancy worked at the University of Delaware for 30 years. Together, James and Nancy have 11 kids; Nancy has four, while James has seven.
After their initial meeting, Nancy and James quickly became acquainted. When friends of James asked him to lunch at Schaefer’s Canal House in Chesapeake City, Maryland, James asked if he could bring Nancy along.
“That was our first date… sort of,” James said. Nancy replied, “Sort of?” to which James confirmed, “It was, it was.” After that, things moved quickly; they were engaged by late August 2018 without much fuss about it, he didn’t even have a ring.
Nancy is Catholic so it was very important to her that they had a priest. And sure enough, on October 26, 2018 they were married by Msgr. Charles “Charlie” Brown, a cousin of a friend of James, at the Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Roman Catholic Church. They decided to keep the wedding small, with James inviting a friend and his wife, and Nancy inviting just one friend.
They chose to celebrate their wedding a month later through a “Holiday Party” at Deerfield Country Club with 70 people. They called it a “Holiday Party” as they did not want the gifts that come with a wedding reception.
When asked the key to a happy relationship, Nancy replied that you must have fun. James focused on give and take and pointed out that he and Nancy are pretty similar, and that they don’t have many stressors. At 93 and 89 they are able to live freely, driving wherever they want to go and playing bridge.
“I guess we love each other too,” Nancy said. “And we love each other,” James agreed. “But we do have a lot of fun, don’t we?” Nancy said with a smile.