Reunited after decades apart, high school sweethearts wed at 80
By Craig McDonald, USA Today, October 22, 2019
Former high school sweethearts, Annette Adkins and Bob Harvey celebrate thier wedding after 60 years apart. Craig McDonald, Reporter
WESTERVILLE, Ohio – After breaking up 63 years ago in high school, Annette Callahan and Bob Harvey, now both 80, officially became man-and-wife in a ceremony Saturday.
Their love story of rekindled romance has been likened to a Hallmark movie.
The tale of the widowers rediscovering their teenage love after mutual happy years spent married to others also has assumed viral proportions since it debuted in The Pataskala Standard in late September.
That story went on to appear in numerous newspapers across the country before countless other media began to spin their own versions. It’s attracted attention from “Access Hollywood” and “Inside Edition.”
It even triggered an inquiry from an advertising agency wondering exactly what vehicle Harvey drove nearly 500 miles from Virginia to Ohio to reunite with his high school sweetheart for the first time in six decades. (For the record, his wheels were “a 2018 ruby red Ford Flex.”)
‘Like a Hallmark movie’: High school sweethearts, now 80, will marry in October
For their nuptials, Callahan wore burgundy slacks and matching sweater.
Harvey, in a nod to a famous 1957 song of the same name made famous by country crooner Marty Robbins, wore “a white sport coat and a pink carnation.”
Annette Callahan and Bob Harvey make their first official entrance as husband and wife at the Nutcracker restaurant after a private ceremony held Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019, in Westerville, Ohio. (Photo: Jessica Phelps/The Advocate)
The Robbins song is about a young man stood up for the senior prom by his love who has chosen another. (“Someone else will hold my dreams.”)
In many respects, and for many decades, that song that has nothing near a happy ending threatened to remain Harvey’s reality in regards to Callahan.
Fortunately, life doesn’t have to imitate art. No spoiler here: In the end, they end up together, happily.
‘I got a little emotional up there’
The couple were wed in a historic chapel at Central College Presbyterian Church in Westerville – Callahan’s church, with Pastor David Redding officiating.
The ceremony caps a love story that began in the fall of 1955 when the two met in high school during study hall. “Over that time, I fell 100% in love… my soul mate,” Harvey said shortly before the Saturday morning ceremony.
But on a long ago summer break, Callahan met another whom she would later wed. Harvey married too, shortly after graduating high school.
Six decades later, both widowed, the two reunited and rekindled their love affair.
At several points on their wedding day, the two referenced their former spouses and the signs that they had blessed the new relationship. Harvey noted his daughter picked out his necktie for the big day, then he noticed it incorporated daisies in its pattern, his late-wife’s favorite flower.
They also credit a higher power for their reunion. Harvey said, “We both feel the Lord is instrumental in getting us back together.”
Referencing a Johnny Mathis song that has been a theme in their story, and their vows earlier that morning, Harvey then added, “We pledged to love each other until ‘The Twelfth of Never.’ “
After the ceremony, Callahan confided, “I got a little emotional up there. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it.”
‘Giddy as can be’
For their reception, the couple chose Nutcracker Family Restaurant in Pataskala, Ohio, whose décor and vibe lean hard on 1950’s nostalgia, walls decorated with art from that era and many images of 1957 Chevy Bel Airs like those adorning one of Harvey’s favorite shirts.
The Nutcracker is also where the couple had their first date in six decades.
Bob Harvey dressed in a white sport coat with a pink carnation, pulls the wedding rings out before marrying Annette Callahan on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019, in Westerville, Ohio. (Photo: Jessica Phelps/The Advocate)
For the couple’s big day, the Nutcracker provided a special 1950s-theme wedding cake. The Nutcracker also provided more wedding cake for the overflow diners in the main part of the restaurant.
Shortly after noon Saturday, the newlyweds entered the reception area at the Nutcracker to mutual favorite Mathis, played on a boombox.
Laughing and kissing, they danced to “Chances Are,” with friends and family looking on.
Harvey said, “I’m giddy as can be… My heart is bursting. We’re looking forward to a very long-lasting relationship.”
And their honeymoon? They plan a trip to Maumee Bay in Oregon, Ohio, as soon as rain isn’t threatened there.
That said, Callahan noted that her new husband had joked that given the broad media attention attracted since their story first appeared, the bigger risk than rain might be drones trying to capture images of the happy couple.
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Source: USA Today
