SALT LAKE CITY (News4Utah) By: Rick Aaron- Click here for video
The phrase "Til death do us part" took on a new meaning at an emotional wedding ceremony at The Inn Between, a hospice facility for the homeless on 1300 South.
Usually journeys end there but on Tuesday afternoon, it was the site of a new beginning as two residents started their journey together as husband and wife.
61 year old Ernie DuBose met 50 year old Linda LeMieux back in March.
"First time in probably all my life I actually found somebody, we're the same," DuBose told News4Utah. "We like a lot of the same stuff and had the same values. Lot of things she didn't like I don't like and we like to help people."
Their friendship soon turned into a romantic relationship.
"He's funny. He's sincere. He's honest," Linda explained. "His eyes are just..there's something behind his eyes that I've never seen in anybody else. He's the best man ever.
Ernie, a former restaurant worker from Louisiana, has an inoperable heart condition and has already survived longer than doctors expected. Linda describes herself as a former heroin addict whose hepatitis C turned into liver cancer.
Matilda Lindgren is the Program Director at The Inn Between.
"They both are terminally ill and decided they really want to get married before...before it was too late so they can enjoy the rest of their days together," Lindgren said.
"We knew it was meant. It was meant to be. It had to be this way," Linda said. "It's never too late for love and it's never too late for hope...never too late for hope."Ernie and Linda will continue to live at The Inn Betweeen where he helps out in the kitchen and she runs errands for other residents.They don't know how much time they have left but say at this point, it's about the quality of that time, not the quantity.
