Taking a walk down memory lane Thursday, Fred and Jocelyn Handy are set to celebrate a love for the ages.
“Love at first sight, don’t tell me it doesn’t exist,” said Fred.
Always the romantic, the 99-year-old of course is talking about his 98-year-old wife Jocelyn. Their story started as teenagers with a smitten young man hoping to land a date with a beautiful girl from church.
“Well, he was polite, and he was fun to be with, we had a good time always, but we were all with a big group, and I had never really had a boyfriend before,” said Jocelyn.
“I mustered the courage to ask for a date,” said Fred.
They went to the movies and dinner and, luckily for Fred, he earned a second date.
“He kind of grew on me,” said Jocelyn with a giggle.
By 1943, World War Two was underway. Fred joined the Coast Guard following graduation, eager to serve his country but of course, he was now in love.
“Well just before I was going to ship out, we decided to get married,” said Fred.
“Oh, I worried, yes, but it didn’t do any good,” said Jocelyn.
When the war ended, like so many young troops of the time, Fred triumphantly returned home. Beginning a life that would see them raise three children, and welcome four grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. They traveled, enjoyed countless nights of dancing, and donned Halloween costumes together in October.
In the blink of an eye, 80 years had passed with very few complaints.
“He was ornery sometimes but if you can’t get away with that, you are not very good for each other anyway,” said Jocelyn. “We laughed a lot, had so much fun and enjoyed our children.”
“To me, she’s as beautiful today as she was when walked into the church that night,” said Fred.
This weekend, the couple celebrates their 80th anniversary. Their daughter Laurie and others will be by their side.
“They are the epitome of what the word love means,” said Laurie.
When it comes to these two, it’s tough to argue that.
“We do give thanks to God that he’s allowed us to literally grow old and grow old together, it just keeps getting better and better and better,” said Fred.