Six decades after going to prom together, two high school sweethearts are finally getting their shared happy ending.
Joyce Kevorkian and Jim Bowman dated their junior and senior years of high school in Illinois in the early 1950s, then went their separate ways for college. They each met spouses at college, and each had long, happy marriages before they were widowed.
Then something unexpected happened. Bowman, who lives in Springfield, Illinois, called up his former flame and asked her to help plan their high school reunion. One phone call lead to another ― and another. And another, said Kevorkian’s granddaughter, Anna Harris, who shared their wedding photo on Twitter.
Eventually, Bowman decided to come visit.
“My grandma had been very sad since my grandpa passed away five years ago, but when she started talking to Jim, she turned back into her old self,” Harris told The Huffington Post. “When I’d call her up, she had a lot of things she wanted to tell me about her life ― she had things to look forward to again.”
That list of things to look forward to included planning a wedding. On April 1, the two 81-year-olds tied the knot in an intimate ceremony at Holy Cross Village in South Bend, Indiana.
“It was a really heartwarming ceremony,” said Harris. “The best man and maid of honor (me!) gave little speeches and then the two lovebirds left for their honeymoon.”
Since the reunion, Harris said her grandma is back to her usual, giggly self.
“It’s almost like she is 17 again. When Jim proposed, she didn’t hesitate one bit and she has been so, so happy ever since,” Harris told HuffPost. “To me, Jim isn’t really replacing my grandpa, he’s giving me my grandma back.”