In a love story that survived war and spanned decades of separation, two teenage sweethearts will reunite when they thought they would never see each other again.
Betty Hove, who lives in Coeur d'Alene, first saw Jack Grosch in the early 1940s when he was working in a California grocery story. She relives her romance as if it just happened. Maybe it's because this love story just got started again. Friday afternoon the jewelry was picked and the bag waiting to be packed, as Betty Hove got ready to see her childhood sweetheart.
"He was just so sweet. They just don't make them like him anymore," she said.It'll be the first time she's seen John Grosch, who she always called Jack, in 70 years.
"I never forgot him. It's just he was special." Betty was just 16 and Jack 17, when they met in California. She used to go visit her grandmother in Santa Monica and saw Jack when he was working in a grocery story.
"Dark curly hair, big brown eyes with eye lashes any girl would die for," she remembers. Betty started going to the grocery store three or four times a day. Jack would walk her home.
Their love story was cut short when World War II started. Jack entered the Navy. He left behind a photo but no address.Betty didn't think she'd ever see him again. She wasn't even sure if he was alive.
"All I had to go was the news reel in the theaters standing there, watching and watching and watching," she said.
Eventually Betty moved on. She married twice, has a daughter and was widowed just a few years ago.Then things took a surprising turn. Her friend asked if there was anyone she wanted to search online.
Jack's name came to mind.
Against all odds, they found him in Georgia. She sent him a Christmas card. He called her back on New Year's Day.Once the phone calls started they never stopped.
Betty is now 85 and Jack 87. They'll see each other for the first time when Betty lands in Georgia Sunday. Over the phone Friday, I asked jack what he was going to do when he sees Betty.
"How am I going to get close enough to hug her and kiss her?" he replied."Can you believe you are going to see her?"
"It's almost impossible to believe it but I know I am," Jack said.
While this romance may have started in the 1940s, for Betty it's just getting started again."I never got over this guy. He was always tucked away in a corner of my heart."
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