Page 28 - People (February 2020)

S to r i e s to
m a ke yo u . . .

Peggy and Bill
Singlehurst at
their wedding
(left) and vow
renewal, both
at St. Monica’s
Catholic Church
in New York
City. Inset:
Sandra Lee.

Sandra Lee surprises her aunt and uncle
by re-creating their romantic ’50s wedding
1959

N E W Y O R K C I T Y
Celebrity chef Sandra Lee has been helping her uncle Bill Singlehurst cross items off 2019
his bucket list for the past two years, from traveling to his birthplace in Hawaii to riding
the Orient Express—but his latest request was the sweetest of all. “The last thing that
he wanted to do was say his vows another time to my aunt Peggy,” says Lee, 53. In
December she surprised Bill, 82, who is battling cancer and heart disease, and Peggy,
78, who has Alzheimer’s, with a vow-renewal ceremony at St. Monica’s Catholic Church,
where they were originally married. “It was an exact remake of their wedding from 60
years ago,” says Lee, who also coordinated re-creations of photos from their original
wedding album. “The whole church was in tears because it was really so beautiful.”

This ‘grumpy cat’ has a softer side
now that she has a forever home

S P R U C E P I N E , N . C .
From the minute 4-year-old Perdita arrived at the Mitchell
Perdita’s
ad featured County Animal Rescue on Christmas Eve, she had “some serious
her in all her cat-itude,” says executive director Amber Lowery. “She’d tolerate CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: BRITTANY TAYLOR & HEATHER YOUNG; JOSH PREMAKO;
grumpy glory. you for a minute, and then she’d start slapping and growling. COURTESY SANDRA LEE; JOSH PREMAKO; COURTESY SANDRA LEE; JOSH PREMAKO
She’s quite the diva.” So the shelter decided to be “brutally
honest” and advertise Perdita as “the World’s Worst Cat.”
The strategy worked: Within days they had 175 applications,
and this week Perdita went home with her forever family. “We
felt like she chose them,” says Lowery. “They bonded pretty
quickly. . . . People love to prove us wrong, and that’s okay, if it gets
these animals a home. She’ll probably be the world’s best cat!”

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