Maple Pointe hosts first-ever wedding for resident's grandson

Six years ago, Tom Iuculano, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. It started with personality changes and forgetfulness and his condition worsened to the point where he had to be checked into Maple Pointe at Rockville Centre Assisted Living last year.

Iuculano’s grandson, Thomas Russo, was engaged to be married to Valerie Sandoval, but the family had to figure out how the 85-year-old La-Z-Boy Furniture Gallery owner could attend the ceremony.

So the family decided that instead of Iuculano going to the wedding, they would bring the wedding to him.

Russo and Sandoval tied the knot in front of Iuculano and about 35 other guests in the first-ever wedding at Maple Pointe on Nov. 4. Plans for the wedding there were put together in about two weeks.

“He’s not easily moved around,” said Iuculano’s daughter, Roseanne, who is also the aunt of the groom. “My nephew wanted to get married and wanted him to be a part of it, so they came up with the idea of having a little ceremony here and we would get my father here easily.”

Russo, 24, and Sandoval, 27, both from Dix Hills, met over six years ago and became engaged around Mother’s Day.

“It was a really important night,” said Russo. “He’s been a very large part of my life. I wouldn’t be where I am today without him and we just wanted a guarantee for him to see us get married. His current condition is deteriorating, so we didn’t want to wait two years.”

Russo works in emergency medical services and said it is tough seeing someone he admires dealing with an incurable disease.

“Honestly, it’s really sad,” he said. “I see it all the time, but it never really affected me until it started happening at home.”

After considering other options, Sandoval said she and Russo embraced the uniqueness of the event.

“It was definitely different,” she said. “It was kind of a last-second thing. We planned this whole thing in a few weeks. We were thinking church, but with grandpa, he can’t drive too well and can’t be in a car, so we decided [to] bring it to him.”

Dressed in a royal blue suit, Iuculano entered the room with support from a walker and was seated in the first row of the second-floor makeshift chapel besides his wife of 35 years, Barbara. There were three rows of chairs set up on each side of the aisle with a flower attached on the inside end of each section.

“He looks good,” said Roseanne Iuculano before the ceremony. “We’re hoping that he remembers some of the family members.”

The altar was decorated with a podium and flower arrangements on both sides and the guests blew bubbles at the newly-married couple moments after the ceremony ended.

Father Lawrence Chadwick, a family friend from St. Matthew Roman Catholic Church in Dix Hills, officiated the ceremony. He was ordained at St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre in 1975.

“I’ve heard of it in a situation like this where an immediate family member is disabled or in Tom’s situation where the church would give a dispensation,” said Chadwick. “It’s just a friendship, not just a parishoner. I looked into my schedule and, for this family, [I said] yes.”

Iuculano and Roseanne own four La-Z-Boy stores on Long Island, including the Rockville Centre location on Sunrise Highway. He is a former member of the Air Force and was an avid golfer.

To cap off the memorable day, Iuculano was able to attend the post-wedding dinner at an Oceanside restaurant surrounded by his loved ones. He has two daughters and three grandchildren, all triplets.

“He did quite well,” said Roseanne Iuculano.