Earl Adams had a date to perform a wedding. His great-grandson and fiancée wanted Earl, who lives in Longwood, Florida, to marry them in June in Lancaster County. The 86-year-old man was delighted by the prospect.

Unfortunately, Earl experienced a series of unfortunate events in the months leading up to the wedding – a fall, a hip replacement and a subsequent broken leg – landing him in WellSpan Ephrata Community Hospital just a day after he arrived in Lancaster County and just two weeks before the wedding.

He was more than 1,000 miles from home, laid up, unable to walk and in need of a second hip replacement. Presiding at his great-grandson’s wedding seemed like an impossible task.

Fortunately, Earl had Amanda Gockley, a nurse at the hospital, on his side.

Nurse Amanda Gockley

After Earl had his second hip replacement and before he went to a rehabilitation facility to recover, Amanda made arrangements – with just a few hours’ notice – so Earl could perform the ceremony for the couple, Julien Coleman and Jayda Smith.

The wedding took place before about 15 family members in a visitor’s lounge on the second floor of the hospital, a day before the planned wedding. Family members videotaped the ceremony and played it at the couple’s wedding reception the next day.

With support from a nurse extern, Brynn Bollinger, Amanda set up chairs so that there was an aisle for the couple to walk past family members and go to Earl, who was seated in a corner. Amanda borrowed some flowers from a patient who had an abundance of arrangements (and was thrilled to loan them for a few hours), decorating the lounge with vases of bouquets. Then she helped Earl change into a spiffy flowered shirt and dress pants, so he looked nice for the wedding, hospital socks and all.

“Oh it was just over the top,” Earl says. “Amanda really took a great interest in helping. I felt appreciated and cared for and the couple was thrilled.”

Earl stands with his great-grandson, Julien, and his new bride, Jayda.

Amanda said it was an unusual and rewarding day at work.

“It was a happy occasion!” she said. “I was just trying to make it as nice as it could be. I came home and told my family, ‘I did something today I have never done. I helped to organize a wedding.’ I was glad to help make the best out of the situation.”

Earl, who is back home in Florida, said it was a first for him too.

“I have married other couples but never in a hospital!” he said. “It was a great experience because it shows that love triumphs.”