East Haven Woman Revealed As A 'Golden Bachelor' Contestant

EAST HAVEN, CT — The names and faces of the 22 women who will be competing for the heart of ABC's first Golden Bachelor have been revealed, and one of the ladies looking for love is one of East Haven's own!

Viewers tuning in to 'The Golden Bachelor,' a spinoff of ABC's 'The Bachelor' and 'The Bachelorette,' will follow the journey of Gerry Turner—a 71-year-old widower from Indiana— as he gets to know his nearly two dozen suitors in an effort to determine to whom he wants to give his final rose.

One of those women is Peggy, a 69-year-old dental hygienist from East Haven who has "always put others before herself and has dedicated her life to helping people," according to her biography on ABC's website.

"Peggy has gone on multiple dental missions where she's volunteered to serve developing nations around the world," her biography continued. "She continues to be passionate about her work and even went back to her dental practice after initially retiring because she missed it so much!"

Peggy, who has a bichon frisé named Libby and is a go-karting enthusiast, wrote that she has "loved every season" of her life and "would not change a thing" — though she is ready to find someone with whom to continue to check goals off her bucket list.

'The Golden Bachelor,' which will premiere this fall, will showcase that "love stories, like so many other things, only get better with age," according to ABC.

Gerry Turner, the face of the show and The Golden Bachelor himself, is described in his own biography as a retired restaurateur and doting father and grandfather.

"Always a romantic, Turner married his high school sweetheart, Toni, in 1974," his biography continued. "Together, they lived a full and happy life with their two daughters, Angie and Jenny, and later two granddaughters, Charlee and Payton. Sadly, after 43 years together, Toni suddenly fell ill and passed away in 2017."

But now, "six years after Toni's passing and with the support of his family, Turner is ready to put himself out there and find a love that will stand the test of time in his golden years."

The first episode of 'The Golden Bachelor' airs at 9 p.m. EST on Sept. 28.