Ohio couple married 65 years die 11 hours apart

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Relatives of an Ohio couple who died at a nursing home 11 hours apart on the same day said their love story's ending reflects their devotion over 65 years of marriage.

Harold and Ruth Knapke died in their shared room on Aug. 11, days before their 66th anniversary, The Dayton Daily News (http://bit.ly/16KBNAJ ) reported. He was 91, she was 89.

The couple's daughters said they believe their father willed himself to stay by his wife's side despite failing health until they could take the next step in their journey together. He went first — his children saw it as his "final act of love" — and she followed.

"We believe he wanted to accompany her out of this life and into the next one, and he did," daughter Margaret Knapke said.

The couple had known each other as children and began their courtship as pen pals while Harold, known as "Doc," served in the Army during World War II. Ruth would later joke: "I let him chase me until I caught him!"

Her husband became a teacher, coach and athletic director at Fort Recovery Schools, the newspaper said. They raised six children while looking after each other with a devotion that didn't seem to diminish.

A photo taken this summer shows him lying in a bed, arm stretched through a guardrail to hold her hand, as she leans in to press the top of her head to his. When she was ailing, he blessed her each night with holy water, daughter Pat Simon said.

The Knapkes had a joint funeral Mass, with granddaughters carrying Ruth's casket and grandsons carrying Harold's casket. The cemetery procession stopped at the farm house where the couple had lived, and the current owners surprised the family by flying a flag at half-staff to honor the longtime loves.

"It is really just a love story," said Carol Romie, another daughter. "They were so committed and loyal and dedicated, they weren't going to go anywhere without the other one."

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Information from: Dayton Daily News, http://www.daytondailynews.com

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Zimmerman's wife needs to 'think about' staying married

SANFORD, Fla. –  George Zimmerman's wife says she's going to have to "think about" whether she stays married to him.

Shelli Zimmerman made the comments to ABC on Wednesday after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor perjury charge for lying during a bail hearing following her husband's arrest for the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February 2012.

Her husband, who was acquitted on second-degree murder charges in July, wasn't in the Sanford courtroom Wednesday as she was sentenced to a year's probation and 100 hours of community service -- even though she supported him and even lied about their finances.

"She was scared," her attorney, Kelly Sims, said after Wednesday's hearing. "Her husband was locked up. She didn't know what was going on. So, she stood by her man, like Tammy Wynette says."

Shelli Zimmerman told ABC "I always want my husband's support."

Asked if she and George Zimmerman are still together, Shelli Zimmerman said, "I'm not going to answer that."

She added that she "wants to have children and stay married."

"With George?" the interviewer asked.

"That's something I'm going to have to think about," Shelli Zimmerman replied.

In the interview, she also revealed that she wasn't at their home the night of the teen's controversial shooting because she'd had a fight with her husband.

"I was staying at my father's house," she said. "We had gotten into an argument the night before and I left."

Shelli Zimmerman says that while she believes her husband's version of the events leading to the shooting, "I can't tell you how many nights I've gone or laid awake at night just thinking that I wish to God the circumstances had been different."

She says the couple lived in hiding while awaiting his trial.

"We have pretty much lived like gypsies for the past year and a half. We've lived in a 20-foot trailer in the woods, scared every night that someone would go and find us and that it would be horrific," she said.

Shelli Zimmerman admitted she did not tell the truth during the bail hearing.

"I can rationalize a lot of reasons for why I was misleading, but the truth is that I knew I was lying," she said.

She said she plans to do her community service with a Christian ministry.

"I've made mistakes and I want to own them right now," Shelli Zimmerman said.

She also told ABC she is deeply sorry for the Martin family's loss. "I can't even begin to understand the grief a parent experiences when they lose a child," she said.

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Meet the couple that got married thanks to Pinterest

A couple were recently engaged via the social media site Pinterest (GMA)

Lori Brokaw-Stout has been “obsessed” with the photo-sharing, social media site Pinterest since she first launched an account a little more than two years ago. But she had no idea that Pinterest would be the place where her boyfriend Brian Stout would make his wedding proposal.

“My Pinterest obsession is kind of a running joke amongst friends,” Brokaw-Stout told Yahoo! News in a phone interview. “I check it on my phone when I’m waiting in line at the grocery store, pretty much anywhere I have a moment of downtime.”

Of course, Pinterest is primarily used by women. So, Brokaw-Stout was surprised when her then-boyfriend Brian said he had created an account and suggested she follow him. She did so and was surprised to find that his first (and only) pin was an eight-foot long marriage proposal.

“It said, ‘Will you marry me? Re-pin if yes.’ It was a perfect way for him to propose to me and I did not see it coming,” she said.

The actual proposal was more elaborate. Brian had secretly recruited Lori’s friends and family to hold up signs, which read, “Say YES!” to a series of different topics related to the couple.

The couple married June 2 and Lori said everything has been going great for them although there has been an unexpected bit of fallout.

“It served him right because he’s now just as addicted as I am,” she said. “We’ll scroll through pins and read them to each other.”

Their marriage is ultimately another example of how social media sites are changing the ways individuals interact with each other online. Less than 10 years ago, it was still largely a social taboo to admit you met your partner via an online dating site. Whereas now, statistics suggest that around 40 million people in the U.S. alone use the Internet to search for potential mates.

Since it was first launched in 2010, Pinterest has grown to an average of more than 10 million daily users. In the 2012 presidential election, both Ann Romney and Michelle Obama created accounts to document the campaign. And while a 2012 study found that more than 80 percent of the site’s users are women, the number of men using Pinterest does seem to be growing.

For example, Richard Wong told Yahoo! News he used the site to help plan a first date with his girlfriend.

“I wanted to cook her dinner for one of our first dates,” he said. “I’m not a great chef myself.”

Wong says the pair then shared their meal ideas, which served as a catalyst to the relationship.

“She learned a lot about me from my page,” he said. “We have the comfort of knowing our tastes are similar.”

Wong, who works in marketing, says he’s also been using the site to come up with ideas for clothes for work and other subjects that can sometimes prove to be a mystery to men.

“I just tapped into a great market for guys,” he said. “Females are a bit more visually oriented than guys. But the site has helped me think about things that I wouldn’t ordinarily consider, like, how can you cater your outfits if you’re going to work then meeting up with friends afterward?”

And if things start to get too routine for Wong or Brokaw-Stout in their respective relationships, social media might have a solution for that as well.

“I call it my ‘romance board',” Jessica Murfin told Yahoo! News. “My husband and I have been together since high school. So, we use it to come up with date ideas and add a new level of spontaneity to our relationship.”

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Meet Norma and Norman Burmah, the longest-living married couple in the U.S.

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
BERLIN (Reuters) - Half a life-time ago, artist Yoko Ono lay in an Amsterdam hotel bed with husband John Lennon, staging a week-long "bed-in" for peace and feeling they were very alone in their activism. Today, Ono, whose own energy for campaigning has never tired, sees a world full of activists, maintaining her energy and faith in humanity. "When John and I did the bed-in, not many people were with us. But now there are so many activists, I don't know anyone who is not an activist," she told Reuters in an interview in Berlin on Monday, her 80th birthday. ...

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