Long-time Trophy Gardens Visitors Find Another Shot at Love
by Rocio Villalobos
A minor injury Ian Pollard experienced while playing bridge at Alamo’s Trophy Gardens RV Resort turned out to be fate at play.
After patching himself up, his friends told him to call the Resort’s 1st-Responder group to take a better look at it, and, unbeknownst to him, his future wife was sent.
“Susan (True) comes knocking on my door later that night to take care of my owie, and that’s how we met,” Pollard said.
From then on, a friendship was forged. The pandemic arrived shortly after, and they both spent extra time at the Resort instead of heading back to their home states.
“We played cards and walked around the park here,” Pollard said.
Despite not meeting until the injury, they shared a lot in common. Both have been visiting the park for 13 years, they unknowingly shared a bus during the Resort’s trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras a few years back, and both have a son named Ian, close in age.
“We both like road trips, taking off, going places, and just enjoying each other’s company,” Pollard said.
When Pollard and True eventually returned to their home states of Missouri and Iowa, respectively, they spent the summer going back and forth to visit each other. Somewhere along the way, feelings turned romantic, and Pollard proposed.
“I had been single for 30 years; in fact, I was proudly single,” True said. “I’ve been a confirmed single person for so long, everyone was so shocked and kept thinking, ‘No, that’s not true’ so I got several phone calls when it came out we were going to get married. Nobody would believe it, so they had to hear it straight from me.”
“I had to convince her I was worth it,” Pollard added.
Pollard, 78, and True, 75, wed in Missouri December 26 at a family-only ceremony and were surprised with a wedding shower when they got back to Trophy Gardens January 1.
“Two of the men from the Park here were the flower girls and two more were our bridesmaids,” True said. “Everyone in the Park is so happy for us, that we’re together.”
While True never expected to find love again after three decades spent single, she believes it was God’s work and is now looking to set up some of her other single friends.
“You’ve got to get out there, I guess, and meet new people,” she said. “I had such a positive experience, and I’m thinking maybe they could find the same thing we have now. You’re never too old.”