A Date With Destiny

Written by Ashley Christopher

Destiny

A Date with Destiny

Rosie Franklin had been her mother’s date before. As the mayor of Dardenne Prairie, Pam Fogarty often had charity events and galas to attend. This event turned out to be different, though—special. A one in a million kind of thing.

This time, the charity event was the September 2007 reveal of the Dove House, a luxury town home in New Town that was decorated by various designers. As the mayor and her daughter were making their rounds through the house jam-packed with the local A-list, Fogarty came upon her friend, St. Charles Mayor Patti York. Like Fogarty, York had brought one of her kids along. As Fogarty introduced Rosie to York and her son, Jordan, she knew she was witnessing something spectacular.

“It was magical, it still amazes me,” Fogarty said. “You could literally see the fireworks exploding over their heads. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

York said she knew the instant that Jordan and Rosie looked at each other, something special had happened.

“At first, I was just happy because Jordan would have someone his own age to talk to throughout the event,” she said. “I mean, how much fun could he have at a soiree with no one to talk to?

“But then they disappeared and we hardly saw them, so I knew they must have hit it off.”

Later, the two mayors confided in each other about what they had seen.

“It was fate,” Fogarty said. “It’s as simple as that.”

Apparently, it wasn’t just that motherly sense that felt what had happened. Rosie knew, too. Fogarty said that as soon as she and Rosie were alone, Rosie made an amazing declaration.

“Literally minutes after they had met, Rosie turned to me and told me ‘I think I just met my husband’,” Fogarty said.

As it turns out, Rosie knew what she was talking about. A year and a half after that fateful night, on April 18 of this year, Jordan proposed. He took her back to the place where they had met, getting permission from owner Greg Whittaker, New Town developer, to take Rosie to the roof. There, among décor of roses and champagne, he asked her to marry him.

Afterwards, they headed to a local wine bar, where both mayors were waiting.

“Rosie didn’t know we were going to be there, so that was an extra surprise for her,” Fogarty said.

While the couple had planned on marrying before they moved to Malaysia for Jordan’s job in January 2010, Rosie hadn’t expected it to come so soon. After all, she wanted to plan a perfect wedding before they left on their extended honeymoon of sorts. However, Jordan found out they would be leaving much sooner than planned—less than three months later, on June 30.

“Rosie had to go into warp speed, throwing together a wedding while preparing to move across the globe,” Fogarty said.

Just one week later, the couple was married in a civil ceremony on the roof of the place that had been so special to them, the Dove House. In a true compromise between the two cities, the marriage was performed in St. Charles by a Dardenne Prairie judge.

“How very diplomatic of us, right?” Fogarty laughed.

Since the civil ceremony had to be rushed in order to get Rosie’s passport information together, a wedding was planned for June 20. The diplomacy of the civil ceremony continued on into the wedding, with the ceremony held at Immaculate Conception Church in Dardenne Prairie, right across from city hall. The reception was held at the St. Charles Convention Center.

“We wanted it to be all us, but evenly us,” York said. “We didn’t want to have any part of the wedding in St. Peters or anywhere else—just our towns.”

Now, Jordan and Rosie are happily married and living in Malaysia. Fogarty has already been over to visit, at the end of September, and the couple plans to visit as often as possible.

York said the entire romance between Jordan and Rosie was wonderful, but the best part was being able to see it happen.

“Just watching the love grow and blossom between them was spectacular,” she said. “They truly do belong together.”

“Of course,” Fogarty added with a chuckle, “it does bring us one step closer to taking over the county.”