Indy couple found love on the bus
Barbra Streisand's ballad "Love Comes From the Most Unexpected Places" might as well be dedicated to Rita and Phillip Wiley of Indianapolis.
Seven years ago, on a frigid January afternoon, Rita Wiley, 59, bundled up after a day of work at the City-County Building and headed to the IndyGo bus stop at East Washington and South Delaware streets.
As she approached the stop, she noticed a handsome stranger with a goatee huddled among the other riders-to-be that afternoon. The stranger, 60-year-old Phillip, noticed her, too.
After a bit of eye contact, Rita made her move.
"I thought he was cute, and I liked his goatee," Rita Wiley said with a smile. "But we just started talking together that day, and from that time on, he would just sit with me on the bus on the way home."
For the next few days, they spent Rita Wiley's roughly 20-minute bus ride from Downtown to her Southside home swapping stories about the past and sharing their hopes for the future.
"We talked about everything. One day, we just decided to have a Friday night dinner out, and we did that for a while, until one day it just changed," Rita Wiley said.
Much as she did at the corner of Washington and Delaware, Rita Wiley saw something she wanted and made her move. In late April 2011, the couple changed from seat mates to soul mates.
"Yeah, she actually asked me to marry her," Phillip Wiley laughed. "I was planning on it, but she beat me to it."
The Wileys' unusual story is one of the many tales of love being shared by IndyGo officials throughout February.
In a partnership with Commuter Connect, the Indianapolis transportation company is in the midst of its "Love at First Ride" campaign. The promotion asks commuters of all kinds to send stories about something — or someone — they love and how it relates to their commute.
IndyGo Marketing Manager Bryan Luellen said that each Friday in February, the name of a participating commuter is randomly drawn to win a $50 gift card, bus passes and more.
The stories are still rolling in, Luellen said, and the Wileys are not the only couple that Cupid has managed to charm while waiting at a stop or riding on the bus.
"Another couple took the bus to get their marriage license," Luellen said. "They rode the bus when they were dating. Now they're married and still ride the bus."
Rita Wiley said the couple's unconventional ways didn't end at their unexpected meeting.
When their wedding date came around, they traveled to Irvine, Ky., Rita Wiley's hometown, population 2,700.
Instead of a white dress, the bride opted for black. A longtime friend served as the minister, and Rita Wiley's uncle covered the cost of a small, intimate reception.
"He was the only guy I could talk into the notion of going home to Eastern Kentucky to get married," Rita Wiley said. "But we had a wedding cake and the whole nine yards. I didn't expect a whole lot of people there, but it ended up with about 18 or 20 people, so it was pretty cool."
For Phillip Wiley, his friendship with Rita came at just the right time. He had been married for nearly three decades and was finally ready to move forward romantically.
"I was married like 29 years in my first marriage, and the only reason it ended was she died," he said of his first wife. "It took me a while before I starting thinking about dating again, but I was ready. Rita is a good woman, and she's a pretty good cook, although she doesn't think so. And I love her.
"Sometimes she doesn't believe it, but I do love her very much."
Phillip was Rita's second chance at love, too. She was married for eight years and hadn't seriously dated in more than 20 years, before she met Phillip.
"I can't say it has always been happily ever after, because when you have a lady that's not been married for a long, long time, and a gentleman that hasn't been married for a long time, you kind of get set in your ways," Rita Wiley said.
"It's been a lot of give and take, but I wouldn't trade it. Life is a journey for everybody, and if you choose somebody to take that journey with you, then stick with them ... bad times make the good times even better."
Phillip Wiley agreed, and he urged others who fear that love will never come knocking not to give up.
"There's somebody out there for everybody," he said. "You just have to look."
Call Star reporter Justin L. Mack at (317) 444-6138. Follow him on Twitter: @justinlmack.