BRUNSWICK

Some matches are said to be made in heaven.

“Victoria Journalist” and “Pat Attorney” found out they are also made online — boosted by the knowledge that they share 38 discrete points of compatibility.

And now they’re going to the Rose Bowl.

That may not sound too romantic, but the relationship that followed their meeting through eHarmony has been rosy-hued, according to Tory Ryden, who signed up for the online matchmaking website founded by clinical psychologist and relationships expert Neil Clark Warren.

Ryden — or “Victoria Journalist,” who was a news anchor for WMTW TV and now serves as spokeswoman for Parkview Adventist Medical Center — chose not to upload a profile picture to her account.

“I was a single mom with four kids; I was busy, I was a public figure,” said Ryden, who was living in Cape Elizabeth and initially was unsure about “the whole online dating thing.”

She said profiles on eHarmony, and the matches they generate, are created based on answers to a questionnaire.

“It takes about three hours to fill out a questionnaire, which I equate to the SATs,” said Ryden. “It’s multiple choice, and I went through and answered everything so sarcastically. Initially I just thought, ‘Oh my god, I’m such a loser for even doing this,’” she said.

Ryden wasn’t too happy with the first round of results.

“I wasn’t getting the greatest matches and I wondered what was wrong,” she said.

The questions are designed to align characteristics that establish compatibility with a long-term partner, according to the eHarmony website, which claims it’s responsible for 438 weddings since launching in 2000.

“I thought, ‘I need to be really honest with myself in answering these questions,’ and there are hundreds of questions,” Ryden said.

She then decided to “reclaim control by relinquishing control,” and went through the questionnaire again. This time, sans sarcasm.

Quick results

The results were almost immediate.

Ryden was matched two weeks later with “Pat Attorney,” or Pat Scully — an attorney at Bernstein Shur and single father of three in Brunswick, who also went pictureless on his profile.

An extended lunch date in November 2007 which had Ryden and Scully both running back late to work soon blossomed into a family of nine.

Ryden has four children between the ages of 18 and 23, and Scully has three children aged 23 to 28.

In 2008, Ryden sold her house in Cape Elizabeth and moved with her three daughters to Brunswick.

“He was an empty-nester for about two weeks,” Ryden said of Scully, whose youngest son had just joined the Air Force Academy. “Then suddenly the sea change: This man with three athletic sons was living with my three blonde daughters and Sam, our golden retriever,” she said.

Ryden’s eldest had just left for college.

“It’s a busy group, that’s for sure,” said Ryden. “But the kids all get along great. They all really look after each other.”

When Ryden and Scully got engaged, Ryden felt an urge to share her happiness with Neil Warren, the CEO and co-founder of eHarmony.

Scully has his own spin on the story.

“She’s a pretty assertive woman,” Scully said, “and she decided that even though this man had put millions of people together, he needed to know specifically about us.”

Scully said, Ryden, “being the journalist that she is,” tracked down Warren’s unlisted number for his summer home in Kennebunkport.

“He answered the phone immediately and I told him I just wanted to thank him, and to tell him how happy I was,” Ryden said.

The quick “thank you” evolved into a 45-minute conversation, she said, which ended with her inviting Warren and his wife, Marylyn, to her wedding in July 2009.

“My theory was that people only contact you when they’re enraged or have a complaint,” Ryden said. “It’s never the good stuff, and I think people need to hear about the good stuff. So I try to make it a point to share that.”

When they got the call about the Rose Bowl, Ryden and Scully were in Cologne, Germany, visiting Ryden’s daughter — Ana, 19, who is on a semester abroad in the Netherlands with Emerson College.

“Neil called and said, ‘I really need you guys to do me a favor.’”

Ryden said Warren explained that, for the first time in the history of the fabled Tournament of Roses Parade, there’s going to be a “dot-com float,” and that eHarmony had been chosen.

The Rose Bowl is the oldest annual American college football game, with the first game played in 1902, and the annual reappearance starting in 1916. Fondly nicknamed, “The Granddaddy of Them All,” the Rose Bowl has had the highest recorded attendance of any college football game since 1945, according to the NCAA records book.

Ryden said seven couples are going to be featured on the eHarmony float, which will also have Natalie Cole on board, singing for the crowds.

Warren thought Ryden and Scully would be perfect for the task, Ryden said.

“Neil said, ‘I need your help. Would you guys allow me to fly you out, cover food and lodging and provide you with tickets to the Rose Bowl game?’” in exchange for appearing on the float, she said.

Though they’ll only be gone for three days, Ryden said they are both excited for the trip to Pasadena, Calif.

“All the kids will be (in Maine) for the holidays,” Ryden said, “so we can’t be gone for long.

“They all laughed when they heard we were going to be in the parade. I don’t think they’re surprised by anything we do now.”

Home in Brunswick

Ryden is currently director of marketing, community relations and development at Parkview Adventist Medical Center.

Scully is a member of Bernstein Shur’s energy practice group and municipal and regulatory practice group. He will become the firm’s CEO on Jan. 1, while he is at the Rose Bowl.

They live in Brunswick, and spent Christmas at home with their children: Mike, 28, who is studying at UMaine Law; Kevin, 26, in his third year of medical school in Dublin, Ireland; Dan, 23, in Air Force flight school in Oklahoma; Conlin, 23, a UMaine student who lives and works in the Brunswick area; Catherine, 21, a UMaine student; Ana, a student at Emerson who is flying home from the Netherlands; and Tiernan, 18, who recently returned from volunteering in Peru and is applying for nursing school.

Ryden said she has been “very open” about meeting her husband through an online dating service, and that she now knows seven other couples, four who are married, who also met online.

“It has already become normal, I think,” said Ryden of meeting online.

“There are categories of people in the world who are just plain lucky to meet the right person, but I don’t think I’m alone in being a bad chooser in relationships,” Ryden said.

“When you’re always working, eHarmony uncovers things it would take a really long time to discover about someone you meet,” she said.

rgargiulo@timesrecord.com