Love with a Temple Recommend

Wasatch Rambler
This is so great. In a slightly round-about way, I helped two people get together.
Faithful readers may recall that back in July of 1997 I brought you the story of Patti Howell.
Patti was lonely. A divorcee at 45, she had found the selection of potential mates very slim.
Part of it was she is LDS and deeply religious. She didn’t want to date anyone who wasn’t.
Part of it was she was working three jobs. Spare time, even to go to LDS singles wards, was scarce.
So she seized the beast by the throat and took out a personal ad:
“If you’re 45-55, want new friend/ possible eternal companion, meet me at the Ogden Temple door,” and it gave a day and a date.

Intrigued by the idea of an LDS temple as a rendezvous spot, I went to see what happened. There she was, all 4’9 of her, in a black dress and lace collar, smiling to beat the band.
And there was a guy there. A guy more than six feet tall. They made a lovely couple, if somewhat unbalanced.
Did he and Patti hit it off and live happily ever after?
Nope. They dated three times, she fixed him dinner once, and then he quit calling.
Patti handled it well.
“I had a good time with him,” she said last week. “I called him after I hadn’t heard from him and he said "I’ll call you,’ but he didn’t and that was fine. He wasn’t meant to.”
And for a darned good reason. A friend of hers had seen my story about her dating problems. That friend knew a guy who worked at the Ogden LDS temple who was also single and suggested he give Patti a shot.
He did, and wow. We’re talking magic here.
He is Frances Dupaix (pronounced Due-pay), 78, who lives in Layton. His first wife of many years had died a year before and he was both as lonely and as deeply religious as Patti.
Frances said he can’t say precisely why he liked Patti. Just a feeling that it was right, he said.
Patti said things moved fast. “We had a few dates, got engaged in February (1998), married in April and went on a mission in July.”
A mission for a honeymoon?
“That was the second question he asked me after he proposed, would I like to go on a mission?” Turns out, a mission was one of her dreams.
They just got back last week from Luxemburg, serving out of the Belgium Brussels mission. His ancestors are from Luxemburg and the church had them set up a Family History Center there, so they had a really good time.
Now back, they plan to spend some time working at the church’s family history library in Salt Lake City. Then it will be off on another mission, they hope.
It all worked out for Patti, just as she planned.
When I talked to Patti in 1997 she said she picked the Ogden temple as a meeting place because anyone who’d go to a temple session is a great guy.
Have fun kids. Enjoy your lives together. Glad I could help.
Wasatch Rambler is the opinion of Charles Trentelman. You can reach him by calling 625-4232, or e-mail ctrentelman@standard.net.