A former police officer stricken with cancer has died just two days after marrying his long-term girlfriend inside an ambulance in Marietta.
Peyton “Moses” Williams III learned just two weeks ago that he has a form of lung cancer that is not treatable. He passed away in his sleep Thursday morning.
Tuesday, Williams told Channel 2’s Ross Cavitt that he and Ruth Terry, his girlfriend of six years, have long talked about getting married and decided not to put it off any longer.
Williams' daughter said that her father went from work to hospice in just seven days.
"There was a tremendous sense of concern they wouldn't be able to get married before he passed, but it was something they really wanted to do," Tracey Hazen said.
That's when family members worked with WellStar hospice and Puckett Ambulance to bring Williams and Terry to the Cobb County Courthouse.
The couple exchanged nuptials with family members seated inside the vehicle.
There the chaplain married them in the back of an Advanced Life Support ambulance, just a few feet from the courthouse doors.
“…in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?” the chaplain asked.
"Of course I do, yes. He's my love," Terry said.
"The fact that we had all these wonderful people here to give us an opportunity to do this means a lot to me," a breathless Williams said after the ceremony.
"We are just all kind of in shock. He's accepted the Lord and we got married and that's the last thing on our list," Terry said.
