01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, October 24, 2004

Judith Scungio and Richard Fallone

St. Patrick National Catholic Church, Cranston

8.8.04

He's outgoing, she's very shy. He has a dog, she has two cats. Richard Fallone spotted Judith Scungio from across a crowded room -- albeit a church -- and knew he wanted to meet her.

Judith was born and raised in Providence, in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood. On a Sunday morning in August 1994, she was attending mass at St. Augustine's Church. She lived nearby, with her two daughters and her ailing mother. Rick Fallone saw her in church, and asked a friend about her. The friend said he thought he knew who Rick was talking about, so gave him Judith's address. For a couple of weeks, he kept driving by the house, hoping he might see her outside, and then know if it was the right woman. Judith's mother saw his car several times and was getting suspicious. They lived on a cul-de-sac.

He finally left a letter in Judith's mailbox, saying he saw her in church and would like to meet her. She thought, 'oh, I'm not ready for this.' She had just been through a terrible divorce, and her father had recently died. "My whole life was my work, my daughters, my mother. I didn't really want to go out into the world again."

Again, he drove past her house. This time, when he saw her in the yard, he stopped and introduced himself. They met for coffee -- it became a regular thing: once, twice, then three times a week. Within 5 months, they were engaged to be married.

Later, when she had second thoughts and told Rick: "I can't do this!" he said, "please take the ring, and if it doesn't work out then I'll take it back."

"Everything was just too complicated for us to get married -- mainly because my mother was getting sicker and sicker, needing me more and more -- and one year led to two, then three, and finally to ten years!"

Rick kept saying: "You're worth waiting for, we'll stick it out together." A month after Judith's mother died, he said "why don't we start planning. Let's start a new life. I'd like to take away your pain."

So today, Rick waits for Judith at St. Patrick's, a National Catholic Church in Cranston, one of three in the state. They couldn't get married at St. Augustine's, where Rick first laid eyes on Judith, because they were unwilling to have their previous marriages annulled. Each has two grown daughters from those marriages.

Judith arrives, and the four daughters lead the procession into the church.