By Charles Sadler

Less than a month after an emotional wedding ceremony at Doctors' Memorial Hospital, a local couple's six-year relationship came to a tragic end when Carlene Pickels-McWatters died of cancer.

Carlene, who had been fighting ovarian cancer for the past five years, decided to marry her beau, Melton "Buddy" McWatters, of six years on Sept. 15, during one of her many hospital stays at DMH.

Buddy had been talking to hospital Security Officer Sam Lyles earlier in the day about their plans to be married in her room, when Lyles suggested the couple get married at the hospital chapel.

Buddy went to the bride-to-be, discussed it, and together, they decided it was a grand idea. Carlene temporarily signed herself out of the hospital, and together, she and Buddy went to the courthouse to get a marriage license, Carlene, who was wheelchair bound, was picked-up by the groom and carried into and out of the building, unaware of the access ramp in back.

While the couple was away, the hospital staff was busy organizing the spur-of-the-moment wedding. The nursing staff pitched-in money to buy a wedding cake, decorations, and the bridal bouquet, and soon had transformed the small chapel into a beautiful setting for the upcoming service. They also decorated the nurses lounge, for a reception afterwards.

The chapel was decorated with the many plants the hospital uses to brighten its halls, as was the reception lounge. The hail outside the chapel was lined with Taylor County Emergency Medical Services personnel, nurses, and nursing assistants, as the ceremony began.

In a show of strength, Carlene had said earlier that, "if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right, and not in a wheelchair."

So, as Sherry McCall, Rhonda Canton and Jan Edmonston sang "Amazing Grace," Carlene, assisted by two nurses, walked down the DMH staff lined ball to the chapel to meet her groom.

Once by his side, he helped her stand while the Rev. Byron Tedder performed the ceremony. Lyles stood as best man and Carlene's daughter Carla held the couples' rings.

After the services, Tedder was heard to say, "That was the most touching wedding I've ever had to do."

Afterward, the bride and groom expressed their appreciation to everyone who took part in making the wedding possible. "These people treated us like family, no, better than family," Buddy said. "I just can't believe they did all this for us."

Carlene, 42, passed away during the early hours of Tuesday, Oct. 10. after a long, hard fight with cancer. "The chemo was worst," Buddy said. "It made her so weak, it's hard to describe. I went into this knot knowing how long I would have her, but I thank God for the years of happiness we were able to share.