The lovers reunited after 70 years (6 photos)

90-year-old Bill Hassinger and 92-year-old Joan Blakkan from Michigan dated during their school years. One day they were reprimanded for kissing on the school bus. When Joanne left for college, they went their separate ways. But many decades later, fate brought them together again.





"Believe it or not, we fell in love at that age. I want his hugs and kisses, and he feels the same. It's just like being a teenager," Joanne shares.

In 1949, she graduated from high school and went to college. This ended the couple's relationship.

Blakkan married and had three children. Her husband died in 1989. Meanwhile, Hassinger enlisted in the military, married a classmate, and became the father of three children. He became a widower in 2021 after 68 years of marriage.



“All this time I lived alone and was not looking for love or a man. I was content. But Bill was always in my soul. I loved this boy,” admits the pensioner.





In 2022, Joanne organized her homecoming. She learned from mutual friends that Hassinger, 90, lived in a nearby town and had retired as a police lieutenant colonel.

After a telephone conversation, they met for lunch.

“She looked completely different from how I remembered her 73 years ago. Life does this to everyone,” Hassinger laughs. “But our feelings returned. Today we love each other as much and even more than we did in adolescence.”



Blakkan kept the bracelet her boyfriend gave her for her birthday in high school.

Now the couple meets every weekend, and, of course, they spent Valentine's Day together.

Hassinger still lives in his home about 130 km from Blakkan, but they are planning to move into the same house or a new retirement complex.

“We often play cards and solve puzzles,” says Bill. "But most of the time we just enjoy each other's company."



They know for sure that they want to spend the rest of their lives together.

“We are both in fairly good health for our age. So we want to enjoy the time we have,” the woman shares.

Blakkan insists on walking at least 1.5 km every day.

Hassinger makes no bones about it: “Walking is just a way to get from one place to another, and I don’t have to walk every day to remember how to do it. But I walk because Joanne likes it and I like being with her.”



Linda, Blakkan's daughter, said: "Even if you don't take into account the love they found, this story gives hope. Life doesn't end because you get old."