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iftarltham air conditioning systems 191wefcigaistelmt7 4711748 crntemniisljip sj tfiiiesiatiftou tribune community unirichtire auto centre 374 main st east stouflvilte at the pioneer service sasonj 6406838 serving whitchurchstouffville uxbridge and area a metroland community newspaper wednesday july 15 1987 a match made in newsprint by nancy hoskin though she always dreamed of getting married joan miller nev er believed that she would find her prince charming and could never picture herself altarbound saturday marked the most im portant day in her life as she be came the wife of david paget whom she met through a news paper companions column joan has been institutionalized since birth and has lived at parti cipation house a residence for physically and mentally hand icapped adults in markham for eight years but shes on her own now her own boss making deci sions for herself with the love and guidance of her new husband dave unusual story as reported in the feb 14 issue of the weekender joan and daves love story is indeed un usual dave paget had been answering ads in companion col umns for months when he spied the unusual ad joan had put in her ad read female 28 dis abled outgoing wishes to meet male for friendship byg reje this unusual code at the ads conclusion was her phone number both joan and dave were look- ingfor the same type of compan ion someone to talk with share ideas hopes dreams and in terests despite joans handicap which leaves her confined to a banana cart a stretcherlike electric cart that is her sole mode of transportation the couple were instant friends and hadnt been seeing each other long before they knew they would someday marry rare disease joan has been handicapped since birth with the rare but crippling disease arthroriposis youre missing something if you received community focus on its own tqday you only have part of stouffvilles story community focus is also in cluded in the weekly tribune which is filled with news sports and feature stories on people in your community this week you missed news ab out a serious car accident on main street which occurred yesterday afternoon you also missed the story about town officials pushing for roundtheclock ambulance service and stouffvilles local art showcase latcham gallery is in a financial crunch you could also have read about the latest sports happenings in town and where to find the best shopping deals to receive a copy of the award- winning tribune including the outstanding community focus section call g402100 david paget and joan miller exchange their vows in front of reverend leslie alfano at st andrews united church saturday the couple first met through a newspaper companions column and soon after knew they belonged together joan suf fers from arthroriposis a congenital disease which fuses the bones and joints added to the change of living married life she must adjust to living outside an institution for the first time bruce etheridge the fusing of bones and joints only eight other people in ontario are afflicted with the disease she is confined to her banana cart un able to sit up use her legs or arms and writes with her mouth joan moved out of participa tion house march 1 the first time in her life when she was responsi ble for herself the couple resides on the seventh floor of the 3 tril- iiums project a subsidized apart ment complex downtown lonely life i was really scared when i left participation house joan ex plained life is a lot lonelier than i thought it would be i was used to having so many people around me attendants visit joan three times a day to prepare her meals making sure all is well while dave is at work hes a short order cook and leaves the apartment at 5 am allowing enough time via public transportation to reach his job by 630 am he doesnt return home until 630 pm and while hes gone joan is left to her own de vices while living in markham she could visit friends and local businesses on her motorized cart but in her new neighborhood joan is unable to negotiate the rough terrain the sidewalks are in poor con dition making it impossible for me to maneouver them with my cart so i spend most of the day watching television waiting for dave to come home from work joan said when joan moved out of partir cipation house her government disability allowance was per manently cutoff so the couple makes do on daves salary its tough at least our rent is determined by our income level joan said the couple have met new friends in their apartment build ing and keep busy especially on weekends with favorite activi- community calendar c2 friend in meade c9 carriers have fun ic10 i ties including weekly bingo greenwood race track ontario place and blue jays games lives like o i usually get in for no charge which is great joan smiled though the days can drag by for joan she counts her blessings that she is able to live like others feeling that she is in charge of her life joan hasnt been in contact with her mother brothers or sisters for years but informed her father of her intention to marry da ves pa rents who made it perfectly clear that they were against the couple ever marrying have mellowed joan said and after much thought decided to attend their sons wed ding engaged a year joan and dave were engaged nearly a year before they were married at st andrews united church in markham saturday geoff and jo beard joans adopted family gave the bride away and helped with all the wed ding arrangements joan and dave chose st andrews because she had attended the church when living in markham and had enjoyed singing at several christmas ser vices sixtyfive people attended the ceremony officiated by rev les lie alfano joans ivory satin dress was borrowed from a friend while her four attendants wore peach dearest friend joans maidofhonor was sheila doyle her oldest and dearest friend the two met when joan was only eight years old and sheila worked as a sum mer student in the institution where joan resided a reception was held after saturdays ceremony in the in volvement centre at participa tion house where there was a pot luck supper and dance the couple plan on touring toronto this week for their honey moon visiting centre island canadas wonderland and ontar io place its such a good feeling to know that i will have someone to share my life with joan ex plained wouldnt change i was never without at least 30 people constantly around me my entire life its a strange feeling to have only one person around me but i wouldnt change my life right now for the world joan explained that dave is coping well with the amount of physical attention she requires daily the couple hopes to move closer to their markham friends they have their name on a list for a future participation house hous ing project due to be finished in thornhill in august 1988