They say you never forget your first love. And for Caroline Reeves and Eddie Lamm, their first love ended up lasting a lifetime, even after spending several decades apart.
The once-high school sweethearts recently found each other — and love — again, tying the knot in a ceremony more than 63 years in the making.
First Love
Back in 1956, the two teenagers from Nashville, Tennessee only had eyes for each other. "I thought he was the cutest boy on campus," 82-year-old Reeves told CBSNews.
"Once I saw her, it was all over," 85-year-old Lamm replied.
They dated for several years, enjoying each other's company over a Coke and a plate of fries. Eventually, Reeves set her sights on something else — Lamm's class ring.
"It was an engagement ring. And I was the type of person that would have committed myself to him for the rest of my life with that ring," Reeves said.
But the future was calling and Lamm wasn't ready to make a commitment OR give up his class ring. During Reeves' senior year of high school, he took off to pursue his dream of joining the Air Force, leaving a heartbroken Reeves behind. But not without giving her a parting kiss.
"We pulled up in her driveway and I said, 'May I kiss you?' And so I kissed her goodnight then, not knowing that that's the last time I would kiss her in 64 or 65 years," Lamm said.
High School Sweethearts Destined to Live Their Lives Apart
Life marched on. Two years later, in 1961, they were both married to other people. Lamm moved to California and served 21 years in the US Air Force, flying KC-135s. He spent 60 years with his wife, Polly Piper, until her death in 2021.
Meanwhile, Reeves was crowned Miss Nashville in 1959 and went on to travel the world, becoming an interior decorator, a novelist, and a magazine writer. Her first marriage ended in the 1980s, and her second husband passed away in 2001.
But Reeves never forgot her first love, nor that class ring. And it seems, neither did Lamm.
In April 2022, he got the sudden urge to reach out to his old high-school flame. Luckily for him, on the ninth phone call, she picked up.
Time and distance didn't stand a chance.
“FedEx Delivers” a Second Chance for a First Love
The first time the duo spoke on the phone, their conversation lasted for two hours. Less than two weeks later, Lamm boarded a plane from his home in Canyon Lake, California bound for Nashville.
Reeves met him at the airport and the years just melted away.
"He peeked his head into my car and I just — he took my breath away. I've never seen anything like it in my entire life. I just can't even explain it."
Caroline Reeves via CBS News
She continued, "So I got out of the parking lot, zoom, zoom, zoom, went around, and found the FedEx parking lot. And it was the warehouse. It was closed at night and they had all these security lights. And I got out and jumped around and we hugged and kissed ... and I remember looking up at the security lights and insects were swirling all around."
Five days later, Lamm asked Reeves to move to California. And three months after that he proposed — with his high school class ring.
Today, the couple are newlyweds. They chose "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce as one of their wedding songs, saying it represents their journey back to each other.
"It's miraculous that we found our love again," Reeves said. A love that was truly, meant for the ages.
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