Vows – At Last…

At last my love has come along

My lonely days are over and life is like a song…

That First Encounter

Gladys M Brown and Calvin M Ellis were destined for love; indeed the two, who had given up on love, met at the wedding of Gladys’s brother. Gladys was the evening’s unforgettable compere, and handled the proceedings with such aplomb that Calvin concluded that her husband was one lucky man. Little did he know that the lady was very much single.

Gladys Brown is a superintendent in the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the former head of the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse, CISOCA, and now heads the JCF’s Court of Enquiry at the Commissioner’s Office. She is also an attorney-at-law who was seconded from the JCF to serve at the Office of the DPP for two years.

A senior VP at British Telecommunications Calvin Ellis was born in Jamaica where he received his high school education. After graduation from St Catherine High School with distinctions in all his subjects, he migrated to the United States of America where he has lived for the past 37 years.

FAMILY AND FRIENDS PLAY MATCHMAKER

Calvin’s mum, who also attended the wedding, heard when Gladys announced that she was single and that there was still hope for her because one of her sisters got married at 62 years old. Gladys was nowhere near that age. During the reception, Calvin was encouraged by Angela, a friend who sat at his table, to go catch the ‘garter belt’ but he remarked, “I’m not interested in catching the garter, it’s the MC I want.” Unknown to Calvin, Angela was Gladys’s sister. Angela persuaded him to approach Gladys.

Calvin’s mum, oblivious to Angela’s prompting, was also mentally setting up Calvin and Gladys. She remarked, ” That’s my son’s future wife!” She took it upon herself to approach Gladys to confirm that she was single. She took Gladys’s hand to ensure that there was no ring on it. She then said, “Come meet my son, he is single.” She led Gladys by the hand to her son and introduced them.

Calvin bravely slipped his telephone number to Gladys later that evening. Gladys politely took the number though she had no intention of calling him as she didn’t want to appear desperate.

A few days later while she was chatting with three of her sisters she mentioned that a guy had given her his card at the wedding. Angela then remarked how lucky she was to have two men interested in her, only to find out that it was the same man — Calvin. As Gladys was determined not to call, her sister Liz took the number and called Calvin, then gave Gladys the phone. The rest, as they say, is history.

WHIRLWIND LOVE

Gladys and Calvin met for lunch a few days later at a Japanese restaurant in Manhattan. They spoke for almost two hours the night before she left for Jamaica. Gladys returned to Jamaica and called Calvin to let him know she arrived safely. They continued to call each other and the romance blossomed. Their entire courtship took place by telephone. About four months later, they met in Florida where Calvin proposed at a surprise engagement party that he had planned with Gladys’s sister Liz. The proposal was accepted. Later that year Calvin was introduced to Gladys’s Bishop in Jamaica who vetted him ahead of an elaborate engagement at her church in Jamaica on Sunday, December 30, 2012.

Here comes the bride…

The wedding was held on Saturday, August 9, 2014 at the Garrison Church of the Ascension at Up Park Camp. The bride, wearing a dress from the Petals & Promises Collection, arrived at the ceremony in a 1972 Rolls-Royce escorted by outriders from the JCF. The groom was dapper in a suit from Zara. The cocktails and reception took place at the Talk of the Town Jamaica Pegasus in a beautiful space decorated by Marsha of D’Mar. The newly-weds and their more than 200 guests from Jamaica and overseas celebrated into the wee hours of Sunday morning.

The couple honeymooned in the Bahamas.