JEANNA DUERSCHERL The Roanoke Times

Joe Covey and Diana Corselli share a Valentine's Day hug Sunday at the Roanoke Rescue Mission. The two met there four years ago and are engaged.

Alcohol addiction turned two people's lives upside down, creating a path of homelessness, unemployment and exile from family.

The road to recovery brought the two together as they plan to tie the knot this spring.

"I never in a million years thought I'd ever marry again," said 51-year-old Diana Corselli.

This relationship began four years ago with equally unlikely circumstances, Corselli said, when she and Joe Covey, 49, now her fiance, met at the Roanoke Rescue Mission, where they both were trying to get away from alcohol.

Corselli's first marriage, which began with a Las Vegas wedding, ended 20 years ago. Covey's first marriage lasted a few months, something he called a "mistake."

The two had hit rock bottom with their addictions and sought help through a Rescue Mission program that incorporates mandatory church attendance, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, classes and strict household rules to help those wanting to recover.

Covey said his drinking problem stemmed from loneliness. He moved to the area and had no friends but a lot of acquaintances with whom he went out to bars.

Corselli said her moment of clarity came when, after multiple half-hearted attempts to get sober, she sat alone in an apartment and realized that her addiction had caused her to lose jobs and family, and that she had nothing. She showed up at the Rescue Mission drunk after having "one last hurrah" and was ready to be helped.

Their program lasted about a year and a half, and though they began developing feelings for each other, neither acted on them until after graduation. The couple said dating while trying to get clean is a "cardinal sin."

"We wanted to do it the right way," Corselli said. "We didn't hold hands for about a month."

Program participants share apartments with roommates and have 11 p.m. curfews, among other rules.

Covey treated her to a festival at the library just blocks from the Rescue Mission for their first date. They spent most of their time sitting on a bench talking as music played in the background. The date was amazing and took the couple back to their youth, they said.

"We lost track of time and broke curfew," Covey said as the two traded smiles.

Covey and Corselli thought up ways to lessen the trouble they'd created as they rushed back to the Rescue Mission. After that night, the couple said, "the rest is history."

Now they look forward to a new life together, leaving alcohol in the past. They describe their new state of mind as confident but not comfortable, because relapses occur when too much comfort exists.

A small wedding ceremony will take place in April at the Rescue Ministries Chapel. Corselli's father will give her away, something that didn't happen at her last wedding. A friend who Covey works with in the program will be his best man.

Though they'll be married and living in an apartment together at the Rescue Mission, curfews still will apply. The two aren't sure of their next move, but plan to figure it out together.

The couple celebrated Valentine's Day with a church service followed by lunch, and dinner with Corselli's sister. Corselli got flowers and a stuffed bear, something she said is the norm from her "sweet, thoughtful," fiance, who gets her flowers every weekend.

"I'll have to try to keep that up after we're married," Covey said.