For decades, Al Sager and Susan Guc were satisfied with lives that did not include a romantic partner. Sager, 65, and Guc, 76, both of Bay City, Michigan, had each remained single throughout adulthood. During the week of Nov. 6, 2026, they married, a development that surprised relatives who had not expected either to take that step.
Sager, a truck driver whose work kept him on the road, told CBS News that watching relationships turn sour had discouraged him from wanting one himself. Being on his own did not trouble him. As he put it: “I was alone, but I wasn't lonely.”
Across town, Guc had reached much the same conclusion about her own life. A nurse devoted to her patients, she had considered whether there was anyone she would really want as a partner. Her answer had been no, and she said she was happy with that.
Their paths crossed a couple of years ago under circumstances neither had planned. According to Guc, both had undergone heart procedures and were assigned to the same cardiac rehabilitation program. There, while using a treadmill, she spotted Sager on an exercise bike. He did not notice her, but something about him caught her attention: his smile.
To make contact, Guc gave him a rock with the word “smile” etched into it. The couple playfully described the exchange as her throwing a rock at him to get his attention, although she actually more or less handed it over. Guc summed up the gesture with a joke: “This rock rocked.”
Sager did not immediately understand what she meant by the gift. He initially wondered whether Guc was suggesting that he should smile more often. His response, he recalled, was to decide that he needed to look into the situation further.
That encounter eventually led to a wedding, bringing their long years of singlehood to an unexpected close. Relatives expressed shock at the news. Guc herself described the way they had come together as “just a fluke.”
Both now point to their experience when addressing people who believe they are too old to find a partner. Guc said she once thought that way herself, before meeting Sager. His view is equally clear: “Oh, absolutely, it's never too late.”
