Maggie and Larry Harper visit where he once summered

Celebrating a honeymoon on St. George Island is not that unusual a thing.

Unless you’re a man in your 80s, then it’s rare indeed.

After tying the knot Aug. 10 in Lifeway Church in Dacula, Georgia, with Pastors Bruce and Sheila Rhodes officiating, Maggie and John Lawrence “Larry” Harper spent a delightful honeymoon the following weekend here in Franklin County. 

Their getaway inaugurated a second marriage for the two of them, a bringing together of a May-December romance marked by an irrepressible joy.

The former Maggie Johnson, divorced since 1997, had been active at the church for 14 years, as she continued her career as a job recruiter, a talent manager for finance and accounting professionals, for Randstad.USA.

Larry Harper had been married to his wife Gloria Ann ever since December 1960, not long after he finished a three-year stint in the Army and began a career in sales.

The couple raised a daughter and two sons and they were headed towards the rewards of retirement when Gloria had a stroke and the couple moved to Loganville, Georgia, to be closer to their daughter, Chris Holmes and his husband, Randy.

“The church had a healing school ministry and I took my wife there every week and became a member,” said Larry.

In July 2022, after 61 years of marriage, Gloria passed away.

Now alone, but still sharp and energetic, Larry, 86. became more active in the church.

“I knew of Maggie,” he said. “One day we sat down and started talking at a coffee shop.”

Their friendship led to about eight months of courtship, and ultimately marriage. 

“Everybody was kind of surprised,” Larry said. 

Maggie, 66, who has three children and five grandchildren had found a new, lifelong companion in their town of Loganville, Georgia.

“Our biggest connection is all kinds of church things,” Larry said. “We spend time with friends and family and watching the Georgia Bulldogs. We’re big Bulldog fans.”

While he had largely grown up in August, and later Bainbridge, his adopted hometown, Larry had summered in Franklin County, where his aunt Irma, his mom’s sister, and her husband, Newman Marshall, lived, as did his mom’s sister Agnes, who was married to Homer Marks.

Larry and his older brother Claude would stay with his grandfather John Joe Segree and his wife Lina. Their best friend those summers was Jimmy McLeod, and the boys would hang around together.

John Joe Segree “handled the swinging bridge,” the revolving bridge that once spanned the river between Apalachicola and Eastpoint.

Segree would let the boys climb up into the little bridgetender space that was the control room for the bridge. “He’d let us go up there with him, up a little ladder to get up to the little house,” he recalled.

“We’d come most every summer, and there were times I stayed three months at a time,” Larry said.

The boys would stay with the grandparents in an apartment across the street from the Gibson Inn, which was within walking distance of the bridge.

Larry convinced Maggie to spend their honeymoon in Franklin County last month, and the two divided their stay between a beachfront rental on St. George Island, and the Majestic Jewel Inn of Apalachicola.

The two couldn’t say enough wonderful things about the hospitality they received, especially from Greg Vance and June Quinn, the couple that own the Majestic Jewel. They hooked up the Harpers with their friend Richard Bickel, who now lives in the home at 96 Sixth Street, where Larry’s mom, Tertia and her second husband Julian Branch, once resided.

Bickel gave them a tour of his home, and presented them with one of his renowned photographs of the county.

Now that they’re back in Loganville, there’s another photograph that holds special meaning to the newlyweds.

“When I was out in the garage I found a framed picture of the bridge,” said Maggie. “We’re going to hang it up in the Florida room or the sunroom.”