whose engagement was destroyed by an untimely
foreign Army posting have finally tied the knot
after meeting and rekindling their love - 52 years
later.
John Thorndike was 20 when he met and fell in
love with pretty fellow shoe factory worker
Patricia Payne, 19, in their hometown of
Maryport, Cumbria.
They were soon engaged by the time John decided
to switch careers - and joined the Army in 1963.
But when posted to Gambia, in Africa, for a year,
he had no way of phoning or sending post and the
pair struggled to maintain their relationship.
They soon drifted apart, and both later met other
partners, married and had children, while still
wondering about what happened to each other.
Now 52 years later, the couple have settled back
in Cumbria and finally married - after fate led
John to bump into Pat's daughter Julie completely
by chance at a 70th bash.
Last Saturday John, 72, and Pat, 71, tied the knot
at St Mark's Methodist Church in Maryport,
watched by about 30 family and friends.
Pat said it felt "brilliant" to finally marry the man
she met as a young woman when they worked
together at the factory."It is a dream come true."
When John was posted abroad, Pat eventually
married a local lad and started a family in
Wigton.
Pat had two children - two daughters - through
her marriage, although in recent years she
became single again and started to wonder about
John.
She said: "I always thought about him. I loved
him all the time. I was heartbroken when he
left all those years ago."
John said:
"She loved her husband, I loved my wife but
it's fate, it had to be. I could have been away.
It's a hundred million to one chance that Julie
came to my 70th.
"If I hadn't spoken to her, I wouldn't have
been here now getting."
And John added: "We have a lot of time to
make up together."
Culled from Uk mirror
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