MARYSVILLE — If there’s one thing that Maybelle Hollingworth and Fred Teachout have shown, it’s that you’re almost never too late to find a new love.
Fred was already a resident of the Windsor Square Senior Apartments when Maybelle first moved there in 2007, and according to Maybelle’s son, Dave Hollingworth, the two took to each other right away.
“Mom had divorced and never remarried, so she and Fred just hit it off,” Dave Hollingworth said. “She’s as happy as I’ve ever seen her.”
Aside from a slight age difference — Maybelle is 92 years old, while Fred is 99 and will turn 100 this year — the couple has a great deal in common. Dave joked that Maybelle and Fred have bonded over discussing the Mariners’ poor performance together, but on Feb. 14, the couple found themselves sharing something else, when they were named Windsor Square’s Senior King and Queen for this year’s Strawberry Festival, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
“They’re both floating three feet off the ground right now,” Dave Hollingworth said. “They’re shy and they say they don’t want the attention from this, but they probably do a little. Everyone who’s met my mother has liked her, and Fred is a good person whom I wish I could have met sooner. It’s just so neat that two people could meet one another at this age and become so close.”
Prince Schaeffer and Peggy Maahs were named the runners-up for Windsor Square this year.