Fred Paul and Florence Harvey were the quintessential teenaged sweethearts. Both from the eastern-Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the pair spent two blissful years tied at the hip and eventually falling in love. But when Paul turned 18, he had to move off to Toronto to find work and 15 year old Florence moved out of town with her family.

The two lost touch and eventually went on to marry other people and build families of their own. Florence and her husband Len spent 57 wonderful years together and raised five children  before he passed away of cancer.

Fred and his wife Helen raised two children and spent almost 60 years together before she passed away as well. It was after the death of Paul’s wife that he and Florence finally reconnected, when she called to offer her condolences.

The two spent hours on the phone with each other, catching each other up on 70 years worth of stories.

“I never thought it would go past that. But we went from talking once a week, to twice, to three times, to every day for hours. We had really reconnected even though we hadn’t seen each other in all those years. I knew this was it.”

The two talked about how Fred used to tell Florence goodnight and that he loved her by flicking his porch light on and off every single night for those two years, signaling to his love who lived across the bay.

The two started talking the day after Valentine’s Day, and in July Florence surprised Fred by saying she was coming to Toronto to see him. Speaking to CNN, Fred shared:

“When I found out she was in town and was coming to me, it was 10:30 at night. I ran out of bed and got dressed and wrote ‘Welcome Florence’ in chalk on the driveway and when she arrived, I walked to the car, gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and I held her hand and I knew right away that she had taken my heart,”

That visit solidified for both that they wanted to spend their remaining days on earth together. One month later on August 8, Fred Paul and Florence Harvey exchanged wedding vows in front of their friends and family. As they exchanged their vows, Florence told her first love:

“You were the first young man to walk me home in my teens. I guess you’ll be the last man to walk me home.”

Paul Ivany, the minister who had performed the ceremony commented on it’s beauty:

“They both had been married for years and had created families and memories and wonderful lives. They both had truly fulfilled their vows to their first spouse ‘In sickness and in health. In joy and in sorrow. To love and to cherish. As long as we both shall live.

And now, with all the wisdom they had gathered up in life, through all of life’s joys and sorrows, life’s ups and downs, they were ready to say those vows again. Not, with the naïve emotionalism of young love but out of the depths of lived experience. They were willing to say those vows again. And mean them, again. It was so powerful.”

The brand new couple shared that their first order of business was to retrace their steps from decades ago, visiting their old hometown where the flames of love were first ignited in their hearts.