On their wedding day, neither of them had a dress, and they hadn’t hired a photographer. So, a bride who was 97 years old and a groom who was 98 years old did it again 77 years later.
Frankie King married her high school boyfriend, Royce, in 1944, but she didn’t have time to find a wedding dress or a photographer. Frankie King got married quickly to Royce. The couple only had a few days to plan their wedding because Royce could only take off work for a few days before he had to leave for his military assignment overseas.
Frankie King’s wedding was not a particularly fancy event. In 1944, when World War II was at its worst, she got engaged to her high school boyfriend, Royce. Royce joined the military in 1944, like many other young men at the time. He was sent to a base in a different state.
Their daughter, Sue Bilodeau, said the following to CBS News: “He was stationed as a lieutenant in the Air Force… he just earned his pilot wings. He was given a little break. They’d been engaged for approximately six months and wanted to be married before he went away.”
Royce took a two-day vacation and then went back to his hometown of Oelwein, Iowa, where he married the woman who would become the love of his life before leaving to serve in World War II. In the years that followed, the happy couple had two children and stayed married for 77 wonderful years.
They still live in Oelwein, and at 97 and 98 years old, they are getting hospice care in the comfort of their own home.
After that, the nurse took matters into her own hands and worked with other staff at St. Croix Hospice to recreate.
Frankie and Royce were getting married. Before the ceremony this time, they made sure to put Frankie in a beautiful wedding dress.
On September 16, which was also their 77th wedding anniversary, their nurse asked Frankie if she could look at a picture from their wedding day.
“And mum responded, ‘Well, we don’t have a photo since we didn’t have a photographer that day,’” Bilodeau explained.
Frankie wore a beautiful dress from the 1940s to their wedding, and Royce, who is now 98 years old, wore the same Air Force uniform he wore when he married his wife 70 years ago.
Royce took off the blindfold when it was time to see his wife for the first time. She was walking across the yard in a white gown. “He just grinned and stared at her.” Both of them were to blame for it. Bilodeau used the phrase “extremely sweet” to describe it.
Even though they didn’t have any pictures of their first wedding, they still remembered it very well.
The staff at the hospice couldn’t hold back their happiness after putting together such a thoughtful gift for the elderly couple. Heath Bartness, who is the CEO of the St. Croix Hospice, asked, “How can you not experience a sense of overpowering emotion?” “Thinking back to what it was like in World War II the first time, and how significant and emotional this second opportunity to do this was, you almost feel like you were a part of it.” There’s a strong sense of pride in not just the corporation and what it accomplished, but also in what it accomplished as a humanitarian effort.”
