This South Jersey couple found love again after a date arranged by his late wife

Joyce Brown knew that William Small was the one when he showed up for their first date with two dozen red roses. For him, it was her mighty swing on the golf course on their second date.

The couple met in 2015 on a date arranged from the grave by his late wife, Naomi, who left instructions for her friends to help him find a companion after she died from lung cancer in 2013. After 56 years of marriage, she wanted Small to have someone special in his life.

» READ MORE: Naomi Jaudon Small, 79, taught at Youth Study Center

Looking around a crowded Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority chapter meeting, Simone Cochrane, the matchmaker designated by Naomi, picked Brown as her first choice. She had lost her husband of 57 years, Larry, six months earlier in 2014 to bone cancer.

Cochrane, of Mount Laurel, asked Brown to do her a favor and go on a date with Small. Cochrane had known his wife for more than 30 years, and while she knew Brown only casually, her pick would later prove to be perfect.

After a successful first date, the couple went out on the next two days, too. Then there was the golf outing: Small was an avid golfer. Unbeknownst to him, Brown was, too. She learned from her late husband, a semiprofessional who once scored a hole-in-one at the Willow Brook Country Club in Moorestown.

With a perfectly executed swing, Brown hit the ball from a sand trap into the hole. Small was super impressed; he had never accomplished that feat himself on the golf course.

”I said, ‘Oh my Lord.’ I couldn’t believe it,” he recalled with a smile

“And that did it! He hasn’t taken me to play golf since,” she quipped.

Such began a courtship for several years. Both retired special-education teachers, they discovered they had a lot more in common. They enjoyed attending church, traveling, dancing, and spending time in Atlantic City, including hanging out in the casinos.

They soon became inseparable. Small eventually sold his marital home in Sewell and moved closer to Brown in Mount Laurel. They had holiday dinners with their blended families: his two children, her daughter, and their grandchildren.

Gregory Small said he knew his father had found his future wife when he met Brown for the first time at a dinner. The two began dancing the funky chicken in the kitchen to a James Brown song.

“I’m really happy they found each other,” Gregory said. “They fit well together.”

No one remembers when Small proposed the first time — or the second time. Brown turned him down. She wasn’t quite ready to make the leap. Both had wonderful marriages with loving spouses. “Why risk it again?” she thought.

» READ MORE: Lawrence I. Brown Jr., 79, comptroller, church leader

“I really didn’t care about love again. I said, ‘57 years — that’s it.’”

Then about a year ago, Small decided to ask again. He joked that in baseball, it’s three strikes and you’re out.

”Joyce Brown, will you marry me?” he asked simply.

She replied: “Are you joking?”

He assured her his proposal was sincere. This time, she finally said yes.

Although she had moved in with him already, she wanted to be a role model for younger couples. Also, she knew they wouldn’t kill each other after getting along so well on a recent two-week trip to Egypt.

“I knew that [living together without marriage] wasn’t the right thing for me,” said Brown, now Small, a deeply spiritual woman.

Will Small was only somewhat surprised that his late wife had set him up. A retired home economics teacher, she was detail-oriented: She told her husband which family members would need extra help to cope with her death and instructed a granddaughter to make sure “he didn’t mope around.”

”She was preparing herself for death,” said daughter Cynthia Small. “She was hoping that Dad would find someone.”

With about 20 family members and close friends present, Joyce, 87, and Will, 86, were married on Feb. 21 on the sun porch of their Mount Laurel home. A surge in the coronavirus forced them to scrap plans for a big country-club wedding.

Escorted by her nephew, Ebon Yizar, Brown wore a gold silk and lace ensemble and vintage white hat. A soloist and keyboard player performed Joe Cocker’s “You Are So Beautiful” as she walked in with a big smile.

Flanked by son Gregory as his best man, Small, in a black tuxedo, waited at the makeshift altar. Cochrane, the matchmaker, stood nearby as the matron of honor. The couple wrote their own vows. He called her his sunshine; she told him he makes her “proud that I’m your woman.” They exchanged a tender kiss before the pastor pronounced them husband and wife.

“I never thought this would be happening to me,” Brown said later. “I had a wonderful husband, but God sent me another wonderful man. I’m truly blessed.”

Small’s grandson welcomed Brown as another grandmother. Her sister, Barbara Walker, 81, a widow, wanted to know if Small had a brother.

“I’m so happy for her. They found love twice,” said daughter Tracey Brown. “It’s hard to find love once.”

Added Gregory Small: “They’re a match made in heaven. I know Mom is smiling.”

Cochrane credits divine intervention for bringing the couple together and allowing her to keep her promise to her friend and sorority sister.

“I don’t think I did it. God did it,” she said, choking back tears. “I couldn’t have picked anyone more suited. I know she’d be happy.”