MA... Surnames 2000-2009 Marriage

MARY m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-11-03 published
Will you Mayor-y me?
London's Anne Marie DECICCO and Tim BEST are planning to wed after a whirlwind romance.
By MARY- JANE EGAN, Free Press Reporter, Thurs., November 3, 2005
Mayor Anne Marie DECICCO cuddles with fiance Tim BEST, a London native now living in Dallas, Texas, yesterday after the couple announced plans to marry next year. BEST proposed Sunday during dinner in Port Stanley. (Morris LAMONT, The London Free Press)
London Mayor Anne Marie DECICCO dropped a bombshell -- but this one was purely personal -- at city hall yesterday: She's getting married.
Dressed in a red suit and flashing a glittering diamond and a broad smile, the 40-year-old, never-wed, two-term mayor invited reporters into her office to meet the man she plans to marry next year.
"We do have a date but we're finalizing it, so I don't want to jinx too much of that right now," DECICCO said as well-wishers arrived with congratulatory hugs and to view the diamond.
Tim BEST, 44, a London native now living in Dallas, Texas, and the owner of two Texas Junior B hockey teams, met DECICCO May 22 at a Memorial Cup hockey game at the John Labatt Centre.
The whirlwind romance that ensued -- kept carefully under wraps -- culminated Sunday when BEST proposed during a romantic fireside dinner at Port Stanley's Kettle Creek Inn.
Port Stanley was chosen for "sentimental reasons," DECICCO said, noting one of their first dates was a walk along the Lake Erie beach.
"Yes, he got down on one knee," DECICCO confirmed, prompting BEST to quip: "I slipped."
BEST, who plans to return to London in April after hockey season wraps up for his teams the Dallas Titans and Fort Worth Texans, said he will maintain ownership of the teams.
BEST said he will give up his role as general manager of Hockey Group LP to his coaches.
The two teams are ranked third and 19th in the U.S.
"I'll take a trip down (to Texas) once a month for a couple of days but as president of a company like that, it's very easy to monitor from up here," BEST said.
After the wedding, they plan to live in the London house DECICCO bought a year ago.
DECICCO, who plans to seek a third term as mayor next year, has already recruited BEST to co-chair one of her campaign teams.
"I feel like I've been blessed in so many ways in my life with a great family and great Friends and this is just an amazing job. But this completes my circle in a lot of ways," DECICCO said of the engagement.
"We definitely want to have a family and I'm really looking forward to that, but we've also talked about running (for election) again and Tim's 110 per cent behind that."
BEST and DECICCO went to the same high school, but he didn't know her then. He was in Grade 13 at Catholic Central high school when she was in Grade 9 there. He went to school with her brother, Dom, while DECICCO shared classes with BEST's sister.
It was after a Memorial Cup game BEST approached DECICCO for directions to an automated teller machine.
"I knew Anne Marie was the mayor, but it was dark and I didn't recognize her and she had all her (London) Knights stuff on and she was wearing this big badge, so I honestly thought she was working at the game," said BEST. " She gave me directions and, later, we were introduced in the Molson tent."
DECICCO has dated off and on, but said her last serious relationship was when she was in her 20s. She kept her relationship with BEST quiet until "I knew he was the right guy."
Since they met, he's made several trips to London and she, too, to Dallas.
BEST let slip they took a vacation together, but DECICCO made it clear that topic was off limits.
"I've always been really serious when it comes to relationships and, obviously, I have a very responsible job and you want to be sure that when someone becomes a part of your life that they understand it fully and this job is important not just for me but for the community," DECICCO said.
Early in their relationship, DECICCO said the couple began talking about the future.
"We have the same values and the same morals and we're both Catholic and there are a lot of things that bind us together and he really understands my job and he knows it's not 9 to 5 and he's going to be eating dinner by himself once in a while. But he doesn't have a traditional job, either, so we understand each other and are supportive -- and you know I'm a huge hockey fan."
BEST was married in 1982 at 21, a relationship that lasted only a year and a half and produced a son, Ryan, 22, who will be his father's best man.
Ryan coaches one of his dad's teams and DECICCO describes him as "just terrific -- he's my buddy."
BEST, who visited DECICCO's parents, Frank and Bettina, the night before he proposed to ask Frank for his daughter's hand, said both families have become close.
"I told her dad this can't happen without your blessing and he said he saw a lot of the same things in me as himself and he lived his life for Anne Marie and he could see I would do the same," said BEST.
"Our families are really emotional," DECICCO said. "Everyone's been crying at various times, my staff, my Friends, my family."
DECICCO, only the second London mayor in recent memory to wed in office -- Deputy Mayor Tom GOSNELL was the first -- said she believes marriage will make her happier and enhance her role as mayor.
"I think just about every other mayor that's been doing this job has been married, so it's not like I'm breaking new ground here.
"I spend a lot of time at events and now Tim will be there and that will be an enhancement to the things I do. This job has been the best experience I've ever had, but like everyone else, there are days when you just need someone to be there for you and I've seen that in the months we've been together and it's just going to be a bonus when he's actually living here and we're married."
BEST's parents are lifelong Londoners. His father, Ted, retired after 30 years as a blacksmith at GM Diesel and his mother, Carolyn, is a retired porter from London Health Sciences Centre. They own a four-hectare hobby farm on Dundas Street East.