VIDEO: High School Sweethearts Marry After 63 Years Apart

A pair of high school sweethearts recently reconnected in Columbus, Ohio, and tied the knot after 63 years apart.

When Bob Harvey first laid eyes on Annette in 1956, it was love at first sight, according to WBNS.

“When she came into the study hall, and I saw her for the very first time, she was the most beautiful woman — which she still is today — that I have ever seen in my life,” he recalled.

She had transferred to Gar-Field High School in Woodbridge, Virginia, after moving from Pikeville, Kentucky.

However, when Bob asked Annette to the school’s sock hop dance, she said no because she did not know how to dance and did not want to embarrass herself.

She ended up going with the neighborhood paperboy and saw Bob at the event.

Annette recalled:

During the evening, he came over and asked me to dance, and I, of course, was trembling because I really liked him, and said, “Well, why are you trembling?” I said, “Because I don’t know how to dance,” so he said, “Well, that’s okay, you can learn to dance,” and, after that, we started going steady.

Sadly, they were forced to part when she went back to Kentucky for the summer and met a man named John Callahan, whom she later married.

Bob also married someone else, so the two never saw each other again. However, he never forgot about Annette.

“This woman who’d been gentle on my mind became obsessive on my mind,” he said.

In July, Bob found out that, like him, she had lost her spouse and sent her a condolence card. When Annette received it, she immediately picked up the phone and called him.

“When I said, ‘Bob, this is Annette,’ he just choked up,” she recalled. “I said, ‘I know it’s surprising that I’m calling you,’ or something. And, finally, he got his voice and could talk to me.”

The next day, Bob drove all the way from Virginia to Ohio to take Annette a bouquet of flowers.

“I took her face in my hands. I’ve got to do this for you. Like this, I said, ‘I love you, you’re beautiful, and I’m going to kiss you whether you want me to or not.’ And we kissed, and I’m serious on this, 60 years disappeared. Poof,” he said.

A month later, the two were engaged, and a few months after that, they got married.

“It was time, it was time for us for a reason, and so, we think that the reason is — we’ve been able to spread the word about love, joy, patience,” Bob said of their journey, adding, “Love endures all.”