Las Vegas couple ties knot again, this time in hospital

Las Vegas Review-Journal

3 years ago

Nurses and hospital staff helped patient Eddie Dobbins and his wife Patricia Hartmann get marri ... — Nurses and hospital staff helped patient Eddie Dobbins and his wife Patricia Hartmann get married in the MountainView Hospital Intensive Care Unit on Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022. (MountainView Hospital)

Eddie Dobbins, an ICU patient at MountainView Hospital, proposed to his now-wife Patricia Hartmann via text on Monday, Jan. 24. (MountainView Hospital)

A couple of long-lost lovers tied the knot for a second time at MountainView Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

Eddie Dobbins, 74, and Patricia Hartmann, 75, got married in the 1970s, but the hospital said in a statement on Tuesday that their nuptials only lasted a year.

“We were young and stupid,” Hartmann said. “We divorced in a year but maintained contact over the years.”

They each married other people and had families, but ultimately reconnected. Hartmann told MountainView Hospital that she saw online that it was Dobbins’ birthday and sent him a note that said, “Happy Birthday to my favorite ex-husband.”

Dobbins lived in California at the time, but stopped in Las Vegas on his way home from visiting his son on the East Coast and took Hartmann to dinner. According to the hospital, the couple bought a house in Las Vegas and moved in together in 2017, but Hartmann said they never planned on getting married again.

But in October, just three months after he was told that his cancer was in remission, Dobbins found out his cancer was back. The diagnosis was followed by bacterial pneumonia and COVID, which landed him in the ICU at MountainView.

Since Dobbins is positive for COVID, Hartmann hasn’t been able to visit him. But he texted her on Monday and asked her to marry him.

Nurses and hospital staff got together to make the wedding possible, decorating the room with artificial flowers and even getting authorization for Hartmann to enter Dobbins’ room, despite his positive COVID status. The hospital said an officiant stood outside the cracked door while music played from a cell phone propped up on a crash cart.

“We hope this day was an unforgettable day for Eddie and Patricia,” hospital CEO Julie Taylor said in a statement. “This is proof that love prevails, and that people are stronger together and that there are joyful moments amidst the challenges.”

Hartmann had to leave the room right after the ceremony, but said the proposal gave her hope that her now-husband will pull through.

Contact Alexis Ford at aford@reviewjournal.com or follow @alexisdford on Twitter.