True love, oh my. Even if you haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing it, it can be seen in a variety of films and is something that most people wish to have in their lives.
The following story is not only a beautiful illustration of pure love, but it also sounds like it came directly out of a romantic film!
One Ohio couple is proving that love can last a lifetime. 63 years after they graduated from high school, Bob Harvey and Annette Callahan married. On the other hand, Bob and Annette were not each other’s dates.
Annette had moved from Pikeville, Kentucky to Woodbridge, Virginia’s Gar-Field High School. Bob was completely enamored with his partner.
Annette admitted to shaking because she had never danced before, but Bob led the way. After then, they began dating on a regular basis and became deeply in love.
‘When she came into the study hall and I saw her for the first time, she was the most gorgeous woman I had ever seen in my life — and she still is today,’ Bob said WBNS-TV. The couple split up after Annette was assigned to live in Kentucky after graduating from high school.
Bob married Diane in 1959, and Annette married John in 1961.
The Callahans had four children, eleven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild between them. For the Harveys, there were two children, three grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
They enjoyed full lives before becoming caretakers for their wives in recent years. For seven years, Annette’s husband, John, fought dementia. Bob’s wife, Diane, battled cancer for even longer.
That first dance stayed with Bob for the rest of his life. He explained, ‘This woman who had been kind on my mind turned obsessive on my mind.’ Then Bob found Annette, like him, was a widow. Her husband had died four years before. He sent her a sympathy card that seemed more like a love letter than a condolence note.
‘Dear Annette,’ the card said, ‘life is a journey of sweetness and sadness, of yesterday’s memories, of tomorrow’s hopes.’
Annette picked up the phone and dialed his number just over a week later. ‘When I said, ‘Bob, this is Annette,’ he just teary eyed,’ Annette remembered. ‘I added, ‘I know it’s shocking that I’m calling you,’ or whatever, and he finally got his voice and could talk to me.’
Bob drove 12 hours from his Virginia home to Annette’s Ohio house the next day to present flowers to her.
‘I took her cheeks in my hands. He said, ‘I’ve got to do this for you.’ ‘I said something along the lines of, ‘I love you, you’re gorgeous, and I’m going to kiss you whether you want me to or not.’ And we kissed, and 60 years vanished before our eyes. Poof.’
A month later, they were engaged, and a few months after, they married. The wedding was blessed by Pastor David Redding. They exchanged vows in a historic chapel at Westerville’s Central College Presbyterian Church — Callahan’s church.
To celebrate the occasion, a kiss and, of course, a dance were exchanged. Annette had never danced since she and Bob had broken up all those years ago.
The two made frequent references to their past marriages and the signs that they had blessed the new relationship on their wedding day.
They also credit a higher power for their reunion. ‘We both believe the Lord has played a role in bringing us back together.’ It’s a love story that might be adapted into a film script. An interview with the two lovebirds may be found in the video below.