81-Year-Old Sweethearts Reunite After 62 Years

Octogenarian Sweethearts Reunite; Hearts Melt

Octogenarian Sweethearts Reunite; Hearts Melt

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Brow Beat
Slate's Culture Blog
July 29 2011 12:28 PM

Octogenarian Sweethearts Reunite; Hearts Melt

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It's entirely possible that I've been overly emotional ever since last weekend, when Dolly Parton reduced me to a weeping mess with her rendition of "I Will Always Love You" during her concert at the Hollywood Bowl. But this video—via BuzzFeed—nearly undid me, despite the slightly irksome '90s-sitcom-intro guitar soundtrack. On a JetBlue flight from Long Beach, Calif. to Washington, D.C., filmmaker Danielle Lurie happened to meet Jack, an adorably spunky 81-year-old widower who was on his way to meet his high-school sweetheart, Betty, whom he hadn't seen for more than 60 years. (The serendipitous meeting of documentarian and subject makes this short feel like a little, fuzzy Catfish.) It's guaranteed to make even the crustiest heart melt a little bit.

It's been six years since the film was released—here's hoping Jack and Betty have had some good times since.

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Nina Shen Rastogi is a writer and editor, and is also the vice president for content at Figment.