High School Sweethearts Reunite & Marry Each Other after 64 Years: 'Getting Together Was Meant to Be'

After being married to different people for over five decades, former prom dates reconnected and rekindled their love. They tied the knot on April Fool's Day in 2017, picking up where they had left off.

Coming across high school dates falling madly in love isn't unusual. However, one couple waited for more than six decades to reunite and put a ring on it. Even in old age, the two love birds were thrilled to begin a new life together.

Joyce Kevorkian and Jim Bowman first crossed paths through mutual friends at York High School in Elmhurst, Illinois. Bowman became smitten with Kevorkian, a gorgeous, lively, and amiable young girl.

Kevorkian and Bowman holding hands. [Left] The couple holding hands at prom. [Inset] The couple share a kiss on their wedding day. [Right] | Photo: twitter.com/CBS8

HIGH SCHOOL SWEETHEARTS

The two became a couple in junior year and enjoyed hiking, picnicking, and dancing at formal events. When the love birds accompanied each other to senior prom, they had a great time dancing the night away. Bowman recalled:

“You should have seen the dress she wore, it was gorgeous! It was big and fluffy. She looked like a princess.”

Sadly, the high school sweethearts lost connection after graduation and went separate ways. Kevorkian attended Lawrence University in Wisconsin, while Bowman enrolled in the University of Illinois. At college, they met their future life partners.

FALLING APART

Kevorkian was married for 53 years before her husband died of a stroke. Bowman and his wife spent 58 blissful years together, but she passed away after a stroke and developing Alzheimer's.

Their love was reminiscent of the classic book and film, "The Notebook."

The two former lovers were devastated, but they never stopped thinking about each other. Bowman also added, "I hadn't talked to Joyce in years and years, but I started wondering what she was doing after all these years."

REKINDLING THEIR ROMANCE

Determined to find his lost lover, Bowman found Kevorkian's address and sent her a letter. Luckily, Kevorkian replied, and the two started talking. After several phone and email conversations, Kevorkian asked Bowman to visit her. He told ABC News:

“I came to visit and we began to find we both still liked all the things we liked 64 years ago, and she’s more beautiful today than she was 64 years ago.”

Bowman drove from his Illinois home to the retirement center in Indiana, where Kevorkian lived. The past lovers discovered that they still loved dancing, music, reading, and hiking. After Bowman left, he called Kevorkian and proposed.

TILL DEATH DO US PART

Kevorkian instantly agreed. On April 1, 2017, the couple married in the meditation room at Kevorkian's retirement facility, surrounded by their loved ones. Bowman also expressed:

“Getting together was meant to be. They say a person never forgets their first real love and it was like there was a spark that was still smoldering in each of our hearts.”

Kevorkian's granddaughter, Anna Harris, served as her grandma's maid of honor. The couple honeymooned in Brown County State Park and visited Harris at Indiana University on their way home. They planned to make the best of their time together.

THE REAL LIFE' NOTEBOOK COUPLE'

It seems Kevorkian and Bowman aren't the only ones who rekindled their romance many years later. A woman from Sidcup, Kent, England, found love again when she met her childhood sweetheart after 40 years, only for him to die in her arms later.

Ann Hunt first met Jeff Carter when she was 14, and he was 17. They locked eyes at the New Eltham station, South East London, in 1960. The two started chatting and entered into a relationship.

A year later, he joined the army after a row with his mom, who broke their relationship by telling Hunt that Carter was with someone else. The pair crossed paths again before Hunt's marriage to another man in 1967. Sadly, Hunt couldn't call off the wedding.

LOVE ALWAYS REMAINS

They had a daughter but divorced after 25 years. Soon afterward, she started looking for Carter, who was also searching for her. They found each other again in 2008. Their love was reminiscent of the classic book and film, "The Notebook." Hunt expressed:

"We walked towards each other and when I looked into his eyes, it was like going back in time – I had fallen in love all over again."

Carter and Hunt spent nine blissful years together before he passed away in October 2017 after suffering two strokes. Undoubtedly, the stories of Kevorkian and Bowman and Hunt and Carter prove that true love is eternal!

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