I became a woman after losing my wife and I found love by marrying my son’s teacher

Katie Papilio, a project manager, has found love again after the tragic loss of his wife, Minxi Lui, who battled breast cancer and passed away in December 2017.

Katie’s new partner is Beth, a 59-year-old former school teacher who also experienced a profound loss when her husband, Rhon, passed away while dropping off their 5-year-old son at school.

Talking on how happy they are, Katie said: “I couldn’t wait to marry her – it was so awesome – we’re really happy together. We’ve cross-adopted each other’s children, we’ve got a total of six in the family now.

“We travel the country quite a bit with the kids, spending time on houseboats and going sailing. And we bought a gorgeous house we’ve painted ourselves.”

How their wedding arrangements went, Katie said: ““Covid kept the wedding arrangements very small. We’d originally reserved a space for about 30 people – we weren’t planning on having a really big wedding anyway. The money we lost had been tied up in a sailing cruise, we spent several thousand on that.”

“Our backyard is just gorgeous, and we ended up doing the wedding there. A lady, Donna, drove out from Kansas City to be our officiant – she and her wife came. We had eight folks here in the backyard – it was very short, pretty much Donna did the ceremony and drove straight off.

“I was very excited during the vows – I reached over and kissed Beth while she was saying hers. I got scolded at my own wedding! It was really cute, everyone was laughing.”

Beth on her own part said: “It was beautiful – Katie was just grinning from ear-to-ear. She didn’t just give me a little peck during the vows, she wrapped her arms around me and gave me a big old smooch.

“One of the people at the wedding, Mindy, brought flowers – with it being 2020 and people not being able to do much, she’d just gotten hold of some flowers and she did my bouquet. My lovely wife and I decided to go barefoot for the wedding.

“My dress was a knee-length, sleeveless lace wedding dress. Katie’s was floor-length with a train and lace, as well. She wore a tiara, while our daughter wore unicorn horns. We walked out our back door into the backyard and the officiant was waiting by the pond – we’d just set up a few chairs for the people who were there. We said our vows and enjoyed being with our family – it was short and it was beautiful.”
Katie continued: “We truly enjoy each day – they do say to live each day as if it were your last, and we take that to heart.

“Us both having lost our spouse in the past, we know how short life can be. We’re both just very interested in making the most of each day – enjoying our surroundings to the fullest.”