Love Blooms Online for Two Seriously Sexy Seniors — Digital Connection Leads to True Texas Romance and a Dreamy Living Room Proposal

Leisa Holland-Nelson had been single for 18 years and had no intention of remarrying. Of course, she had had beaus but nothing she wanted to commit to. That was until, on a whim, she signed up for a date mate on the online dating site Zoosk.

At age 71, one might think that a long shot. Au contraire. Retired businessman Bob Bowman of Austin, also 71 at the time, reached out within 30 minutes of Leisa signing up. “He was so handsome,” she says, “I responded.” That was December 21 of 2018.

His partner in crime for the preceding eight years had been his beloved dog Jake, who was sadly dying of cancer which made traveling to Houston unlikely. Leisa and Bob texted and talked on the phone daily. After a month of being unable to make the trip to meet, Leisa suggested meeting halfway over lunch in Brenham.

“Lunch was wonderful,” she recalls. “He was better in person and he says that he knew I was the ‘one’ right then.”

That was late January, 2019. A month later, Jake passed away. Bob finally made it to Houston in March. He met Leisa’s daughter and son-in-law, Laura and Ben Rose, and their two precious young daughters.

“After the visit, Laura called me and said ‘Mom, he’s so great, please don’t tell him you are never getting married again,'” Leisa says. “I replied with the fact that on our first call I introduced myself and told him just that!”

Marriage or no marriage the romance accelerated to full bloom. There were lots of three- and four-day visits back and forth and Leisa lit up Facebook with images of the younger than springtime couple. A successful July road trip together sealed the deal. He moved to Houston in September.

“Bob was everything I could want in a man, partner, husband, friend. So I wanted to marry him,” Leisa says.

In October, the 72 year-old gent took Laura Rose to lunch and asked for her mother’s hand in marriage. Leisa thought the actual proposal would happen on an upcoming trip to New York.

In mid-October, less than a year from their first meeting, Bob arranged for a date night at Tony’s (their happy place). Leisa, partner and vice president/CMO of ASTOUNDZ, was stuck in a business meeting and running 90 minutes late. When she opened the door to their home, Bob, wearing a smart suit, was waiting for her  and pulled her into the living room that was filled with long-stem red roses and an iced bottle of Dom Perignon awaited.

“He dropped to his knee, asked and dazzled me with the ring,” she says. “I did not like him down there alone, so I dropped to my knees too. . . I said yes. . . we went to Tony’s. . . it was so much fun!”

Off they went to celebrate with a table in Tony’s romantic bar.

The couple wed on February 10, which would have been her father’s 100th birthday. “We always laughed that all he (her father) wanted was for some man to take care of me, whether I needed it or not. So that is what Bob and I gave him for his birthday,” Leisa says.

The wedding took place in the high-rise dwelling of Leisa’s lifelong friend, Frann Lichtenstein, with 39 guests and Rabbi David Lyon performing the ceremony.

Clearly, true love can occur when we least expect it and at any time in our lives. Let hope spring eternal.