Ann Dimock and Richard Olver first met in February 2017 through Stitch.net, a relationship and community-building site with an office in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ms. Dimock had reached out to Mr. Olver, who was all the way across the country in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y. “Too bad we live far apart,” her message to him read.
Ms. Dimock, 69, was divorced with one grown child and living alone in San Francisco. She didn’t expect much to come from her brief note, until she received Mr. Olver’s email response: “Best. Profile. Ever.”
“I found her to be a beautiful, intelligent and warm writer,” said Mr. Olver, 74, who had read and enjoyed Ms. Dimock’s book, “Humble Pie: Musings on What Lies Beneath the Crust.” “I really wanted to meet her,” he said.
Mr. Olver had been married and divorced three times, and had three children from two of those marriages. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he began his career as a lawyer in Morehead, Ky., representing low-income individuals and community groups in Appalachia.
In 1981, he started working for the United Nations in Sri Lanka, and then moved from one region of the world to the next as a U.N. resident coordinator; semiretired since 2007, he is now a U.N. consultant.
“I found many things about Richard quite interesting,” said Ms. Dimock, an author and playwright. “His overseas work with the United Nations, his immigration law practice, his obvious love of learning.”
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In May 2017, the two finally met in person, setting a long-distance romance in motion.
“It happened that the first Stich.net get-together was scheduled in Monterey, Calif.,” Ms. Dimock said. “I was one of the local organizers and would be there for the weekend. Richard thought that would be a good way to meet and check each other out. That weekend made clear that we were on the road to something good.”
After a full-year of bicoastal courting, Ms. Dimock, who had lived in San Francisco for six years but was born in New York and raised in New Jersey, decided to pack her bags and move in with Mr. Olver in Croton-on-Hudson.
They have since turned cuddling into an indoor sport. “We must cuddle at least once a day, those are the rules,” Ms. Dimock said, laughing. And they have enjoyed rowing together as their favorite outdoor sport.
They’ve been known to cuddle up to each other in public, too: In early October, Mr. Olver escorted Ms. Dimock to her 50th high school reunion, where they were surrounded by her classmates from Madison High School in Madison, N.J. “She used me as arm candy,” Mr. Olver said jokingly. “All I had to do was to look handsome and appreciative, and I think I pulled it off.”
But before the reunion came the wedding. They were married Oct. 2 at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Croton-on-Hudson. Jennifer Owen, an Episcopal priest, performed the ceremony before 35 guests, all of whom were fully vaccinated.
When asked what it felt like to be Wife No. 4, the bride did not bat an eyelash: “I respect each of Richard’s ex-wives,” she said. “The way I look at it is that each of them had a certain effect on Richard, which made him the wonderful man he is today — so thanks to all three of you.”
