Code reunites couple after 62 years
An elderly man used coded messages to woo his long-lost love after 62 years, eventually marrying her.
The Boston Globe reports that Howie Attebery, 92, sent a mysterious package to Cynthia Riggs, 82, more than 60 years after the pair had had a summer friendship.
He was in San Diego, California, and she had long lived on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Both were divorced and had had children die of illness.
The package contained old notes they had written to each other about colleagues in the science lab they worked in. The parcel also included a new note in the same code.
"I have never stopped loving you," Mr Attebery wrote.
The notes led to written correspondence, then email, which was followed by photos. Eventually, they met in California where Mr Attebery proposed to his octogenarian girlfriend in 2012.
They married in May 2013.
"We realise we have limited time," Ms Riggs told the Globe.
“It’s unrealistic to think too far ahead. And so all the things that would have bothered me as a young woman don’t bother me anymore.”
Mr Attebery said: “I’ve never lost those first impressions in those early months with her. But then again, love, if it could bloom, it bloomed more when I reconnected with her.”
Morning news break – August 26
