60 years later: Couple still in love after all these years
Published: November 3, 2005
Sixty years ago, a young woman named Lois Plemmons fell in love with a serviceman four years her senior.
It was wartime, 1945, and Lois dated and wrote letters to Weldon Nations, a handsome young man who had captured her heart.
“He was my first true love, and I was his,” she said.
Time and war proved too great a barrier, and both married other people, within months of each other.
They raised families and had wonderful, long-term marriages. Neither gave the other much thought until their spouses died in recent years and both were left alone and heartbroken.
One of Lois’ relatives told her about Weldon’s wife who’d passed away last December. She reported he was living in Whittier, only 35 miles from Lois’ home in Robbinsville. Lois picked up the phone and dialed, not sure what to expect.
“I wanted to call and offer my condolences,” she said. “I’d passed through Whittier and kept wondering about him.”
Weldon was surprised to get her call. He thought she was either dead or far away, maybe in another state. He had no clue that for all these years, she’d been less than an hour away.
“I lived with my first wife 56 years, and she lived with her husband 55 years,” he said. “I didn’t know what had happened to her.”
The two agreed to meet. Destination: Weldon’s church in Whittier.
“That’s when we first saw each other again,” Lois said. “He looked good to me, and I think I looked good to him. We just hugged right there in church. It didn’t take long until we knew we loved each other.”
Weldon said he was pleased to become reacquainted with his former flame. While he had many happy years with his wife, her passing last December left him extremely sad and lonely.
“It’s hard going through this life alone, but it’s a blessing to be married again,” he said. “I love everything about her. I told her God would be pleased if we were married.”
Lois agreed and the two wed Sept. 25 at the Whittier Church of God. Lois glowed in a formal, lavender gown with a beaded bodice. She also wore a veil, as if she were a first-time bride.
The biggest news, besides the fact the two reconnected after 60 years apart, was the presence at the wedding of Weldon’s 103-year-old mother, Bessie Nations. They had sprung her from the rest home so she could attend the ceremony. It was the first time she’d ever seen one of her children get married. They had all run off and eloped back when they were young.
“She was so happy because she’d remembered my mother,” said Katre Farmer, the bride’s daughter.
“That was the best part of it that she came,” Lois said of Bessie’s attendance. “She just beamed and smiled. She was tickled to death and had been telling us she wanted to come and see us get married.”
The couple and their families are pleased the two have reunited at this stage in life.
“She’s happy, and I’m glad,” Katre said of her mother’s marriage. “My dad’s gone and life goes on. They feel like God led them to each other again in this life, and this is the way they are supposed to finish it out.”
Dorvan Farmer, Katre’s husband, said he’s been delighted at the affection Weldon shows his new bride.
“They have a tendency,” he said, “to play Huggy Bear, Kissy Face.”
Lois laughed when told about this, but never denied it.
“He’s a good Christian man, and we thank God for all of this, because we feel he’s the one who brought us together after these years.”
As far as their future, the two say the goal is to stay healthy. And alive.
“We don’t have any big plans,” Lois said.
“I just feel like she does,” Weldon said, “like it was a miracle that we got together to enjoy our old-age life.”
The couple will travel back and forth between the bride’s home in Robbinsville and the groom’s in Whittier. The only drawback to finding love again late in life is it’s too difficult to merge households, Katre said with a smile.
Lois said friends and strangers alike seem to approve of her new marriage. “We hold hands and people will smile and say, ‘You don’t see that much anymore.’ It seems to make people happy.”
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