The newlyweds were high school sweethearts — going to every prom and every pageant together. They were both on the gym team, in the band and in chorus.

“She was in the National Honor Society, I was a ‘C’ student,” Pagano said with a laugh.

After high school, they parted ways.

“We took a 40-year break,” Pagano said. “I went in the Army, she went to college.”

Dan Pascoe proposed to Jodi Gorman in the Ice Palace on Saturday, Valentine’s Day. The couple from Connecticut refer to each other as “King” and “Queen,” so it was fitting, Pascoe said. (Provided photo — Becky LaDue)

They met back up in 2001 as Pagano was planning their high school class reunion. He was living in Phoenix, she was living in Albuquerque. When they retired soon after, they bought a sailboat and sailed to the Caribbean. For a decade, they lived on the boat in the Dominican Republic and spent hurricane season with Dyer’s daughter, Kathy, in Arizona.

Pagano said it was important to him and Dyer to get married.

“We never thought about it before. We were a couple of nomads,” Pagano said.

Dyer has been battling cancer and has decided to not fight her latest battle.

The idea to do the wedding in the Ice Palace came just three days before the ceremony.

Sue Dyer and Chuck Pagano got married at the Ice Palace on Sunday. The high school sweethearts tied the knot at age 83. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Pagano said their friends down in the Dominican Republic were amazed at their wedding inside a palace of ice.

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And a proposal

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On Saturday, Valentine’s Day, Dan Pascoe knelt down on one knee in the throne room of the Ice Palace and proposed to Jodi Gorman.

Dan Pascoe proposed to Jodi Gorman in the Ice Palace on Saturday, Valentine’s Day. (Provided photo — Becky LaDue)

Becky LaDue, who runs the Radiologic Technology Program at North Country Community College, was at the Palace with friends and her daughter at around 8 a.m. when they witnessed the proposal. She snagged a couple of photos of the special moment and

interviewed the newly engaged couple.

“We thought it was so sweet that we had to share!” LaDue told the Enterprise.

Pascoe, from Connecticut, said he was trying to come up with an idea for the proposal when he saw the Ice Palace being built in a Facebook post. He said they always call each other “King” and “Queen.”

“I thought it’d be very appropriate to propose to her in a palace,” Pascoe told LaDue.

Dan Pascoe proposed to Jodi Gorman in the Ice Palace on Saturday, Valentine’s Day. (Provided photo — Becky LaDue)

He grew up visiting Lake Placid because his cousin was a luge racer. Over the summer, he took Gorman up here and she fell in love with the area.

Pascoe and Gorman have been together for four years now. They met at work. He’s a tool and die maker and she’s the operations manager at the plant.

“We haven’t gotten sick of each other yet,” Gorman said with a laugh.

“It’s a big compatibility test,” Pascoe said.

Gorman said she had no idea the proposal was coming.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I was almost in shock.”

Pascoe wasn’t sure if she wanted to do it publicly, so they went early, before the crowds gathered.

“He did good,” Gorman said.

The couple is planning their ceremony in the fall, and said they’re considering an Adirondack wedding.