'An unimaginable love story': High school sweethearts reunite and marry after nearly 70 years apart

High school lovers who separated about seventy years ago were reunited during the coronavirus pandemic and are now married. The love story begins...

High school lovers who separated nearly 70 years ago were reunited during the coronavirus pandemic and are now married.

The love story began 68 years ago, when Fred Paul and Florence Harvey first met.

The couple met a teenager in Wandsworth, a small town in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. They spent all their possible time, walking around the church, stealing kisses between classes, and attending concerts.

Every night during their two years together, Paul flashed his porch lights before going to bed. This is how he tells Harvey, who lives on the other side of the bay, good night and loves her.

Paul, 84, told CNN: "She is my first love. My first girlfriend is also my first love."

But when Paul was 18 and Harvey was 15, the two went their own way. Paul moved to Toronto to work. A year later, when he returned to look for her, Harvey had moved to another town.

Eventually, they married other people and started a family.

But in 2017, Harvey found himself single again after her husband Lun died of cancer. The couple have been happily married for 57 years and have five children in total.

Two years later, Paul's wife, Helen, who had been around for nearly 60 years, also died of a variety of health problems, including dementia. They have two children together.

The shared grief of losing a spouse brought them together again.

When Harvey learned that Paul's wife had died, she called him to rest assured that the situation would gradually improve.

In the first conversation a day after Valentine's Day, they talked about their lives, their children and grandchildren, and celebrated each other's happy memories.

Harvey, 81, told CNN: "I never thought I would go beyond that. "But we went from talking once a week, to two, three times, to a few hours a day. We really re-established contact, even though we haven't seen each other in those years. I know that's it. "

On his birthday in July a few months later, Harvey came to Toronto and finally reunited with them, which surprised Paul.

"When I found out that she was in the city and was coming to me, it was 10:30 in the evening. I ran out of bed, got dressed, and wrote'Welcome Florence' in chalk in the driveway. When she arrived, I walked to In the car, she gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and I held her hand, and I knew right away that she moved my heart," Paul said.

Only three days after the reunion, the couple was ready to get married. Their family questioned why they moved so quickly, but Paul and Harvey had no doubt that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together.

Paul is still a month away from starting treatment for stomach cancer, but no matter what that means, Harvey is committed to being by his side, for good or for bad.

On August 8, Paul and Harvey swear in front of their family and close friends at Norval United Church in Georgetown, Ontario. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, their guest list is very small.

"You are the first young man in your teens to take me home," Harvey told Paul at the ceremony. "I think you will be the last one to take me home."

Their marriage was presided over by Paul Ivany, the chief minister of the church. Paul Ivany has held more than 500 weddings in his career, but he said it was the “most one he has ever attended”. Moving, the most profound service".

"The two of them have been married for many years and have created families, memories and a good life. Both of them truly fulfilled their vows to their first spouse: "Sickness and health. In joy and sorrow. To love and cherish. Because we both will survive," Ivany told CNN.

"Now, with all the wisdom they have accumulated in life, through all the joys and sorrows in life, and the ups and downs of life, they are ready to express these vows again. Not with the naive emotionalism of young love, but with Rich experience. They are willing to say these vows again. To express their vows again. It is so powerful."

After exchanging vows, Paul took his accordion and sang a Ricky Skaggs song to his bride, "I won't change you if I can".

Ivani said: "Everyone has tears in their eyes. You can't help but feel that you are watching a real life miracle and witnessing an unimaginable love story."

Now, Harvey says excitedly, the couple plan to go back to the first chapter of the story by visiting the childhood town where they met years ago and fell in love.

1359 Beech Springs Road.

Saltillo, MS 38866, USA

(662) 842-7620

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