Leonard Woodward is 96 and has some trouble hearing and getting around, but there's no trouble with his heart. The enthusiastic Scouter, ham-radio operator and great-great-grandfather was "on cloud nine" Wednesday when he married young Doreen Buttery, 73, in the Provo Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Before the wedding, they sat on a couch, touching one another affectionately. She giggles when he calls her beautiful. She gave him a box of chocolates for Valentine's Day, and he gave her a set of coins from her birth year, 1935 (on the nickel is a Native American's head, not Jefferson's).

Woodward -- his friends call him Woody -- has lived in Provo for decades, and Buttery has been living with her daughter here since August, when she served as a hostess for Education Week at Brigham Young University. The pair met at the Eldred Senior Center in Provo.

"She was getting ready to go to the table when I saw her," Woody said. "And I said, 'Isn't she cute. Oh, look how pretty she is.' "

During later lunches, they sat near each other and Woody would buy her meal tickets. They began dating, and after a few months, Woody decided to pop the question. It was good timing, according to the bride. "He said, 'Will you wear my engagement ring?' And I said, 'I will. Put it on my finger.' I wasn't expecting it. It was a surprise," she said.

It was Woody's third marriage (his second wife died in 2005), and Buttery's second (her husband died in 2000). Both had been longing for companionship.

"I was very lonely," Woody said, "and it's not good for a man to be alone. When you're 96 and you cook your own meals and you sit here and look at four walls ..." he trailed off.

"He's very honest, and he's a good person," Buttery said of her new husband. "We get along really well. We enjoy each other's company, and we have some of the same interests."

"I've never been so happy in my life since I met her," he said.

Woody, who has trouble with his vision, was worried about the prospect of moving to a care center. Now, that's all off. Buttery said she expects to spend much of her time caring for him. But she doesn't mind -- in fact, she said, she used to work as a nurse in a hospital and quite enjoyed caring for the elderly patients -- "because they appreciate you."

She was worried about continuing to live in Raymond, Alberta, where she still owns a home, and was hoping to stay in Provo, partly because of the weather, partly to be close to her daughter and partly to be near the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, where she works as an LDS Church service missionary.

"I was trying to figure out all different ways to stay here," Buttery said. "So when I told my daughter I was getting married, she said, 'Well, now you can stay in Provo!' "

Better together

Buttery's daughter, Wanda Scheetz, said things were a little hectic as she helped plan the wedding. It wouldn't be as elaborate as some. Whatever family and friends are in town planned to attend a luncheon, but there was no formal reception. Until the beginning of the week, Scheetz said her mother still hadn't decided whether she would buy a wedding dress.

"At first she thought, 'Nah, I won't bother,' " Scheetz said. "But now I think she'll buy something, a simple white dress."

Scheetz said she and her siblings are excited for their mother to be married again.

"I think it's good," she said. "It's good for both of them."

"He's been dating her a longer time and this seems to be a better relationship than the other ones," said Dan Graham, a friend of 20 years. "He seems to have more in common with her. It sounds like they'll be great together."

De Lamar Jensen, another of Woody's neighbors and friends, said Woody is far from gone and is still an inspiration to many Boy Scouts (he is the oldest registered Scout in America) and to amateur radio operators. Up until about a year ago, Jensen said, Woody still accompanied the local Boy Scout troop on camping trips. He has been honored on many occasions by the Boy Scouts of America and various local groups. His home is a virtual museum of Scouting.

"He's very sharp," Jensen said. "If you look at him sitting in a chair, you'd say, 'Ooh, he's ready to die.' But if you say something to him, he'll give you an answer that'll surprise you."

For example, when asked about this year's presidential race, he replied, "Who's running?" But it was a joke. He chuckled, then said, "Romney was my choice. Now I don't know. Outside of Romney, the rest of them are all a bunch of liars. They promise things they can't do."

When asked about the economy, Woody accurately quoted the current price per ounce of silver and gold and then offered his own economic assessment and some predictions.

"We're in a recession, and it's not going to be very long before we're in a depression," he said. "Because I've seen it before. The unemployment is terrible, the housing market, the storms -- everything is blending in with it. It's history repeating itself. It's everybody living high on the hog for too long."

At the time of the Great Depression, Woody was in his 20s and looking for a job. Like many people who fled the dusty, drought-ridden Midwest, he hitchhiked from his parents' farm in Kansas to New Mexico, where he found work as an electrician. Later he worked in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's public-works programs, and said he has "a real small number" on his Social Security card.

"I tell people about the Depression and they sit there with their mouths open," Woodward said. "But I can't draw them a picture of it. That old Depression never ended until the Second World War broke out."

Woody said young people these days seem to want everything it took their parents many years to acquire, such as a nice house and a nice car. He has some advice for people wishing to improve their financial situation.

"Burn up your charge cards," he said. "Don't go in debt for nothin'. If you don't have the money to pay for it, don't buy it. I'm not old enough to use a charge card myself."

Church ties

Both Woody and Buttery are converts to the LDS Church. Buttery met Mormon missionaries in Calgary, Alberta, after a neighbor gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon. She said she had a strong association with her own church at the time, and wasn't easily persuaded to switch faiths.

Woody was living on a ranch in Wyoming in the 1950s when he became interested in Mormonism. One year, there was a big forest fire, and the Forest Service called on the locals to help fight it. During breaks and meals, Woody said, "instead of going with the roughnecks, I went with the Mormon boys. They practically had me converted by the time that forest fire was over." But he didn't join the church until he moved to Utah in the 1960s.

Buttery said both of them love to perform religious service in the temple, so it's nice that Woody's home in Oak Hills is conveniently close to the temple. She expects they'll return many times after they are married.

'Always working'

To fill up the rest of their time, Buttery said they like to talk, mostly. "About old times, for one thing," she said, but also about farming, the gospel, the church and their families.

"Things that young people wouldn't care to talk about," Woody chimed in.

On Friday nights, he still gets on the radio and chats with a group of people from around the world. He said they talk about everything except politics. "He's got about 20 antennas sticking up from the house in his backyard," Jensen, his neighbor, said. "He's the man to alert the region if there's bad weather or enemy attacks or whatever."

Over the years, Woody said he's spoken with people from 175 different countries. Buttery smiles and says, "And he's still talking to people in Australia."

She goes up to Salt Lake City twice a week to work at the LDS Family History Library. And when she's not gone, she fixes meals for Woody, such as the special dinner of steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and tomatoes they enjoyed on Valentine's Day.

Together, they'll visit Canada to sell Buttery's home there and take care of some business -- it's as close to a honeymoon as they'll get. Next week, Woody will be honored by the local Boy Scout council with a plaque commemorating his 85 years as a registered Boy Scout. He joined at age 11 and has since earned nearly every award the Boy Scouts of America offers. He continues to pay his yearly dues and participate in quarterly board meetings in Orem, in full uniform.

"He never retired, really," Buttery said. "He's always working." And Woody adds, "I never had time to get into trouble."

Graham, the old friend, sums up: "He's not through living."

And he knows a pretty girl when he sees one.

• Logan Molyneux can be reached at lmolyneux@heraldextra.com or 344-2560.