BROKEN ROMANCE MENDED

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27366, 3 June 1954, Page 11

BROKEN ROMANCE MENDED

Marriage After 40 Years (Rec. 7 p.m.) PHILADELPHIA, June 1. Miss Anna Coker, aged 72, said today that she would leave Philadelphia on Thursday for Vancouver, British Columbia, to meet and marry the former stableboy her father forbade her to see 40 years ago. Miss Coker said she would meet Mr John H. Edgecombe, now 70, at Van couver, when he arrived from Auckland, New Zealand. She said she was not. sure where the marriage would take place—in Vancouver, aboard ship, or In Auckland. In 1950, Miss Coker, a housekeeper for'a prominent Philadelphia family, went, back to her native Plymouth, England, for a two-year visit. In April, 1953, Mr Edgecombe visited Plymouth and was told by Miss Coker’s brother that “Anna was waiting.” “In January of this year I received an air mail proposal from John,” she said. “Of course I accepted immediately.”

Mr John H. Edgecombe, of Lowgarth, near Stratford, Taranaki, is a farmer. His wife died about 20 years ago and from then until he made his recent trip to England, Mr Edgecombe led a quiet life, leaving his farm only for occasional trips to Stratford. He has a son, Mr N. Edgecombe, and two, daughters, one of whom; Mrs R. Gibbons, lives &t Ngaere, a few miles south of Stratford. All his children are married. Mr Edgecombe’s decision to remarry was not expected by his relatives and family, all of whom, a relative said last night, were “quite surprised.”—(P.A.)