Ricky Marsh and Annette Racond were married earlier this week at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center by Mayor Michael Vieira.
Marsh and Racond met late in life, and six months into their relationship, Marsh was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. Racond has been caring for Marsh for about four years, and was responding well to chemotherapy for a while, but his cancer spread in November of 2022 and the pair have spent most of their time in the hospital since then.
Aformal wedding was planned, but due to Marsh’s condition, the couple did not want to wait any longer, and enlisted the help of Mayor Vieira to marry them. The couple are huge New Jersey Devils fans, as is Vieira, so he showed up to the hospital room wearing a Devils jersey for the ceremony.
Arlette Roxburgh, who sings the National Anthem at Devils games, also showed up and performed “At Last” by Etta James.
“I was honored to be able to perform the wedding ceremony at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center. I hope I was able to give Ricky and Annette a few more positive memories,” Vieira said. “When I found out that both Ricky and Annette were Devils fans and season ticket holders, like I am, I wanted to try and do something a little special. So, I reached out to Arlette. As Mayor, this is one ceremony that I will never forget.”
Racond helped Vieira prepare a reading about the couple for the ceremony, which may be seen below: “It was Annette’s cowgirl boots in her Match.com photo that enticed Ricky to reach out to her. It was Ricky’s recollection of every concert (and every seat he sat in at every concert) that piqued Annette’s interest. Needless to say, they hit the country music circuit.. think Rascal Flatts, Florida Georgia Line, Travis Tritt and Zac Brown Band.. to name a few. However, they also have a thing for disco and hustled through many clubs.
“Annette initially found it odd when Ricky would send her photos of copper pipes and furnaces. He was in love with being a plumber. And Ricky would often get annoyed when Annette asked too many questions. Hey, she’s a professional journalist.
“Annette was blown away even more when Ricky took her to her first Devils game... and she is now a forever tried and true Devils fan. Ricky can usually be seen running up and down the aisles high fiving fans after every goal.
“They recently set their sights on Florida in The Villages, the largest over 55 community in the world. Ricky and Annette love dancing at the squares to live music.
“We are here to honorAnnette and Ricky on the celebration of their love and marriage.”
