Billy Jack Dempsey sat in a wheelchair in the dining hall, which had been transformed into a wedding chapel, and waited for his bride.

His son and best man, trucker Billy Jack Dempsey Jr. of Somerville, delayed the ceremony about 20 minutes. He ran late after a haul from the Knoxville area.

Ronnie Thomas Real people

And two vacancies opened at River City Care and Rehabilitation Center, when they closed their doors on single life.

“We gave the rooms up for a larger room, our room,” Dempsey said after they exchanged wedding vows Nov. 17 — also their shared birthday.

“What a wonderful present this is and what a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas this will be,” she said, afterward. “Bill and I have a lot to be thankful for. God has blessed us.”

River City Care nurse Donna Guyton, who planned the wedding and worked with other employees to stage it, said it marked the first time that residents of the facility married each other.

Dempsey, 55, of Somerville, lost both legs four years ago to diabetes and gangrene. Doctors diagnosed his wife, 48, of Hartselle, with multiple sclerosis three years ago.

How they met

“I met Bill in the smoking area after I arrived here a year-and-a-half ago, and we became really good friends,” she said. “After about six months, he asked me for a date.”

That date was a ride to Pizza Hut in a Morgan County Area Transportation Service bus.

“He finally kissed me three or four months later, and we expressed our love for each other,” she said. “Another five months passed before he proposed.”

They were sitting out front of the facility when he popped the question.

“The moment she said, ‘Yes,’ the fireworks at Point Mallard went off,” he said.

Friends, several in wheelchairs, joined family in the dining room for the wedding. Others watched through glass windows from the hallway.

“It’s been a stampede,” Mary Jane Dempsey said. “Love was all over this place.”

Her daughter, Lela Smith, was maid of honor. Mary Jane Dempsey’s mother, Carolyn Wiley Dutton of Hartselle, and brother, Jerry Dutton of Decatur, offered her hand in marriage.

The bride also has two sons, Zachary Dutton of Tuscumbia and Blake Smith of Hartselle. Billy Jack Dempsey Jr. has a twin sister, Krissy Benefield of Huntsville.

“Mary and I talked about this in detail, about the circumstances with their lives,” Carolyn Dutton said. “They wanted companionship and to be happy. I believe that they will be.”

The groom’s sister, Dorothy Dudley of Cotaco, said she is happy for them.

“Considering their situation, it’s a miracle they could find each other,” she said.

The Rev. Brad Eades, chaplain for Hospice of the Valley, was performing his first wedding.

He spoke earlier about Dempsey’s sense of humor.

“He smiled,” Eades said, “when I asked him if he was getting cold feet.”