Real stories of true love
In films we constantly see some unimaginable love stories, but real life shows us that most often the relationship between a man and a woman is nasty, cruel and short. But read on - and maybe you will believe in love again.
Romantic and touching stories about true love, which is not afraid of long separation and old age.
60 years of separation
Anna Kozlova had been married for only three days when she had to say goodbye to her husband: Boris was leaving to fight in the Red Army, and she had to wait for his imminent return - or so it seemed to them then.
While Boris was fighting, Anna and her family were exiled to Siberia during Stalin's repressions, and Anna could not even send news to her husband, and Boris searched for his wife for many years. They were from the same village, but Anna was forbidden to come there, so they lost contact.
Anna even had thoughts of suicide - her despair was so great. Her mother then destroyed all memories of the couple’s life together - souvenirs, wedding photographs, letters. In the end, Anna married for the second time, Boris did the same. They knew nothing about each other.
Years passed and their spouses died. And then, 60 years later, something wonderful happened: Anna finally managed to come to her native village of Borovlyanka, where she saw an old man at the opposite end of the street - it was Boris. He came to the village to visit the graves of his parents and saw Anna. He recognized her immediately and ran up to her. As in a real fairy tale, they played a second wedding and lived happily ever after.
Love is stronger than distance
When Irina and Woodford McClellan got married, they could not have imagined that another 11 years would pass before they could finally be together. In the early 1970s, Irina lived in Moscow and worked at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations - it was there that she met an American professor named Woodford McClellan. They fell in love and married two years later in May 1974. But in August Woodford's visa expired and he was forced to leave the Soviet Union and return home. Woodford tried to visit his wife in Moscow, but was repeatedly denied entry. Irina, in turn, was denied permission to leave the country without explanation. The newlyweds celebrated their anniversaries with photos and phone calls.
Finally, after 11 years, Irina was allowed to move to the United States, and at the end of January 1986 she flew to Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Her husband, whom she last saw 11 years ago at an airport thousands of kilometers away, rushed to hug her. The touching reunion of the spouses was filmed by reporters, and Irina wrote a book about her life called “Love and Russia: 11 years of struggle for her husband and freedom.”
Longest marriage in the USA
Ann was 17, and she was born into a family of Syrian immigrants. John was 21 years old and they both grew up in the same area. They became friends in high school and then fell in love, but Ann's father planned to marry his daughter to a certain man 20 years older than her.
Refusing to be led by circumstances, John and Anne fled to New York together. Anne's father was furious, but one of the family members advised him to calm down, saying that this affair could not last long. It should be noted that the lovers eloped in 1932, and together they then watched as huge changes took place in the world, from the Great Depression and World War II to the advent of television and iPhones.
On November 24, 2013, John and Ann Betar celebrated their 81st wedding anniversary. The couple have a large family: five children, 14 grandchildren and already 16 great-grandchildren. John, 102, and Anne, 98, are the oldest couple in the United States.
Touching song
Sometimes the most touching love stories happen when one person in a couple dies.
Fred Stoboch never thought he would one day lose the love of his life. In 1940 he married Lorraine, “the most beautiful girl he had ever seen,” and their marriage was very happy. They had three children and four grandchildren, but after 73 years of marriage, Lorraine passed away.
96-year-old Fred tried to pull himself together and move on with his life. A month after his wife's death, he came across an advertisement for a local singing competition. By his own admission, Fred never had an ear for music, but he wrote a beautiful and touching song that became a hit on the airwaves.
He didn't have the musical skills to write the music for "Dear Lorraine," so he only sent a letter to the studio with the lyrics. Everyone in the studio was so moved that they decided to revive the song and made a short documentary called "Fred's Letter" to tell his story to the world.
"Diary" in real life
The film Diary tells the story of a woman who suffered from dementia and her husband who read the diary to her to remind her of her life. The film is based on a fictional romance novel, but this also happens in real life. Jack and Phyllis Potter lived this way: In the 1990s, Jack decided he would not allow his wife to sink into the loneliness of dementia.
Jack started keeping a diary when he was still a child and kept it throughout his life. When Jack met Phyllis on October 4, 1941, their romance remained in the pages of his diary. Jack fell in love with Phyllis at first sight, and wrote about it in his diary: “A very good evening. I danced with a cute girl. I hope to meet her again." Just 16 months after that first meeting, they got married. They lived in Kent, England, for over 50 years. Eventually, Phyllis' dementia prevented her from living a normal life, leaving Jack to cope alone while Phyllis moved into a nursing home.
But this does not stop Jack from visiting her every day and reading her something from his diary. He reminds her of their family and shows her pictures of their children and pets. And Phyllis, despite everything, has not forgotten how much she loves Jack: she is always overjoyed when he comes to see her. They have been married for almost 70 years.
75 years after the first kiss
In third grade, Carol Harris played the role of Sleeping Beauty and her co-star George Raines kissed her. He played the prince, and it was the first kiss for both of them. After graduating from high school, George moved from Saint John, New Brunswick to Toronto, Ontario, where he started a family. Several decades passed, and after 61 years of marriage, he lost his wife. He decided to return to his homeland, St. John, and there he met Carol again, they hit it off and quickly became friends. A romance began, and after some time George proposed to Carol at the Ontario restaurant. George told reporters that their romance was reminiscent of the fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast,” and Carol believes that she has finally found her prince. So, 75 years after their first kiss, they got married.
A 100-year-old man married the woman of his dreams
In 1983, friends introduced Forrest Lansway and Rose Pollard: it was at a party, and the couple was invited to dance together. Forrest had been widowed twice by that time, Rose had also lost her husband, who died from a long and painful illness, and had no plans to get married again - she just wanted to communicate. They lived 64 km from each other, but did everything possible to see each other as often as possible. The courtship was a leisurely one: over the next two decades, Forrest often drove to Rose's to see her and then drove home that same night.
In 2003, Forrest moved to the city of Rose - Capistarano Beach, then he proposed to her. Rose did not take this seriously, since she was 80 years old and he was 90, and jokingly promised to marry him when he turned 100 years old. But this was no joke to Forrest, and on the eve of his hundredth birthday, Rose finally decided to accept his proposal. The wedding was simply wonderful, no worse than that of 20-year-olds. A chic table, many guests and gifts. A wedding is an event that needs to be carefully planned and prepared, and carried out “without a hitch.”
The couple got married at a local registry office on Forrest's birthday and spent their honeymoon in a hotel nearby, in a room overlooking the ocean. Congratulations flew to them from all over the world, they were even congratulated by US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.
They were born and died on the same day
Les Brown Jr. and his wife Helen were born on the same day, December 31, 1918. They met in high school and fell in love at first sight. Les's family was rich, and Helen was working class, so her parents did not approve of their love. But right after they graduated from school at 18, they ran away together.
They got married and lived their lives in Southern California. They spent all their days together, and even when they turned 90 years old, they remained active and healthy. At the end of her life, Helen was diagnosed with stomach cancer, and Les suffered from Parkinson's disease. After 75 years of marriage, Helen died on July 16, 2013, and Les quietly left for his wife a day later.
The ocean of love is no obstacle
Judith Lovell knew her grandfather as a strict and worthy man, and therefore was delighted when she found his love correspondence with her grandmother. David Hurd moved from Jamaica to New York in 1907 and took on any job to earn a living. He was lonely and out of boredom wrote a letter to an unknown woman from Jamaica. Avril Cato received her first letter in October 1913, and over the next year David enthusiastically corresponded with an unfamiliar woman, although he had not even seen her photograph.
With each letter their love grew stronger, and one day David took the plunge and proposed to a woman he had never seen. He sent the letter and began to wait tensely for an answer - Avril's family gave their blessing. They first met in Jamaica, where David came for his own wedding in 1914. They were not disappointed - their love only became stronger.
The day after the wedding, Avril left with her husband for America. They settled in New York and raised six children. Avril died in 1962, but David did not want to marry anyone else: he loved Avril until his last day and passed away in 1971.
