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SAVOY, Ill (WCIA) — An 80-year-old Walmart employee has worked at the shopping center in Savoy for more than three years. But now she’ll be walking down a different aisle — after finding her true love.
One day in July, Marilyn Boddy was working at the Savoy Walmart as she normally does. Until one man came to the checkout lane– and left with more than his groceries.
“He just turns his body and raises his hand and said, ‘Excuse me, folks, but I have something to discuss with this lovely lady behind in the cash register.’ And my mouth just dropped,” Boddy said.
The man was Larry Meister Sr. The 79-year-old had been to the store before and seen Marilyn — but this was the first time he went in her line.
“I could hear her talking to the other customers,” Meister said. “She seemed like very nice, very kind, very considerate. So, we’ll see if this good-looking lady, young lady, who would like to give me her name and phone number.”
Boddy says she doesn’t usually hand her number out to strangers.
“All of a sudden I’m telling him my name,” Boddy said. “I’m telling him my phone number. I’m telling him when I get off work. And he says that he’s going to call me at 6:00.”
A few days later they went to a Mexican restaurant in Monticello. As the two got to know each other — they saw many good qualities.
“Kind, considerate, honest. Didn’t pretend to be something she wasn’t,” Meister said.
Boddy said it felt like she had known him for a long time.
And then on Christmas Day — Larry popped the question. He originally wanted to take her to Stone Mountain in Georgia.
“It wasn’t going to work out with her job and stuff so, well, Christmas Day is the next best thing. So, Christmas Day it was. And she said yes,” Meister said.
The two lovebirds don’t have any wedding plans nailed down yet. But it’s safe to say for Larry and Marilyn, that that day at a Walmart was lifechanging.