Nick and Diane met stranded in Newfoundland on 9/11 and fell instantly in love… 25 happy years later they tell the life-affirming full story (including moment a blushing flight attendant caught them canoodling!)
Nick Marson, a British businessman, and Diane, a Texan divorcee, met by chance in September 2001 after their separate flights were diverted to Gander, Newfoundland, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Their flight was one of 38 planes carrying around 6,700 passengers rerouted to the small Canadian town, and the pair struck up a connection while queuing for blankets at an emergency shelter. Their story went on to inspire the Broadway musical Come From Away, and 25 years on they remain married, having built their life together from a chance meeting amid one of the darkest days in recent history.
The couple discovered they had been on the same flight and, despite their different backgrounds, found they shared similar values and a strong focus on family. During their days stranded in Newfoundland they bonded over shared meals, walks and a local "screech-in" ceremony, where a master of ceremonies jokingly offered to marry them after locals mistook them for a couple – a suggestion Diane did not dismiss. Now aged 77 and 85 respectively, Nick and Diane went on to marry within a year of meeting and have spoken to the Daily Mail about their enduring 25-year romance.
- Nick and Diane met after 9/11 flight diversions to Gander, Newfoundland
- Their chance meeting inspired the musical Come From Away
- The couple married within a year and remain together 25 years on
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Nick Marson, a British businessman, and Diane, an American divorcee from Texas, first met by chance in September 2001, when their flights were diverted to the small town of Gander in Newfoundland, Canada, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks grounded air travel across North America. Their plane was one of 38 aircraft, carrying roughly 6,700 passengers, that were unexpectedly rerouted there, leaving thousands of stranded travellers reliant on the local community for shelter and support in the days that followed.
It was during this unplanned stopover that Nick and Diane got to know one another, despite coming from very different backgrounds and having no prior connection beyond being on the same diverted flight. The remarkable events in Gander that week, including the way strangers were taken in by residents, later inspired the Broadway musical Come From Away, which brought wider attention to stories like theirs.
Now in their late seventies and eighties, Nick and Diane have been married for around 25 years, having built a life together that began with their chance meeting during one of the most disruptive and sombre periods in recent history. Their story is being told again now as they mark this milestone anniversary.