A Happy Ending--but With More Than Their Share of Heartaches

“Love in the Time of Heart Surgery” doesn’t quite have the ring of “Love in the Time of Cholera,” Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s epic novel about a man and woman who finally come together after 50 years of conflict and romance.

But it sums up the story of Earl and June Finmark, a Granada Hills couple who married in 1948 and divorced in 1985, but continued to live together.

Earl, a 64-year-old retired businessman, learned recently that he had to undergo open-heart surgery. Deciding to remarry June before having the operation, he surprised his live-in ex-wife with a wedding ceremony at Encino Hospital on the eve of last week’s operation.

Earl’s heart bypass went well. Two days later, however, June fainted in her son’s car after visiting her husband and was rushed back to the hospital.

Doctors discovered that she had a never-detected heart ailment and installed a pacemaker the next day.

The couple spent several post-nuptial days in adjoining hospital rooms, with Earl hobbling over to check on his wife despite the pain and doctor’s orders. Friends put up a sign in the corridor that said “Newlyweds,” with arrows pointing to each room.

“The wedding was a delight,” said June, 62. “This was not a delight.”

This week the newlyweds returned home, where their hearts were mending together.