Her Father Made Them Split Up After Their Wedding Engagement Was Announced In The Local Paper

#1

Prentiss Wilson and Janice Rude met while in college and fell in love. They had no idea that their great love would one day be the thing to tear them apart.

Janice was enrolled at Occidental College and studied biology in the 1960's. She was truly ahead of her time.

#2

Prentiss was a freshman and Janice was a sophomore. Prentiss came from a wealthy family and intended to do great things at college and study to become a lawyer or doctor like his family wanted. Since Occidental was a very expensive private school, it would give him the best shot he had in following the path set before him by his family.

#3

Janice, on the other hand, was not from a wealthy family. Her father had pushed her to go to this school. Even though her father helped to pay for her schooling, she had to work a job to help make ends meet. She worked as a server in the cafeteria every day when she was not in class. This is where Prentiss would first notice Janice.

#4

Prentiss says, “I believe we were simply meant to be. I even remember the first time I laid eyes on Janice.” It was as she served breakfast in the school cafeteria. He says he was always on time for breakfast after that, “every day, at 6 a.m., because I just wanted to see her and have our little morning exchange.”

#5

Despite his love, at first sight, Prentiss felt, since she was a year ahead of him and so incredibly beautiful, that she was totally out of his league. He decided to watch her from afar and simply enjoy their small conversations when she served him breakfast each day.

#6

While Prentiss was slow to make any moves, Janice had set her sights on him too. When he did not show up for the school's pre-Thanksgiving dinner, she took matters into her own hands. She had sent a student to search for him, but they came back empty-handed but with the news that he had gone to Santa Maria to his family's home for the holiday. Janice hopped into her car and took the 150-mile drive to track down her man.

#7

Janice showed up at Prentiss' family home after they had sat down for Thanksgiving dinner. His family was thrilled to have the new, bold guest join them for the evening. His mother was charmed and surprised by their forthright visitor.

#8

The couple's whirlwind love affair was typical of any other 60's college love affair. One day, they both agreed that it was time they got married. They even went and put a notice of their engagement in the local paper, but it stated: "no date has been set for the wedding." Sadly, Janice's father was not down with the idea of his little girl getting married.

#9

In fact, he was very angry at Janice and Prentiss for making such a bold step. He threatened to cut Janice off financially if she did not immediately break things off with the love of her life. She tried sneaking around seeing Prentiss, but her father knew what was going on and made good on his threat. He cut her off. Her mother tried to intercede and even went as far as remortgaging their home to help the couple out, but it was not enough. Without her father's money, Janice only had two options... Leave Prentiss or leave college.

#10

"We tried to figure things out but I guess we weren’t smart enough,” Prentiss recalls. The pair went their separate ways. Prentiss went to Harvard Law and eventually became a tax attorney. Janice left college and started her own swimming pool business in Nevada. Even though they thought of each other daily, they both eventually also married other people.

#11

While Janice’s father had never approved of Prentiss, her mother certainly had. Prentiss’ mother, in turn, had loved Janice. When their mothers died within the space of a single month, 50 years after they had parted, they discovered that each of them had been keeping a secret on their person that would bring Janice and Prentiss back together at last.

#12

Funny thing is, both of their mothers had kept a laminated copy of Janice and Prentiss' original wedding announcements. Janice's mother actually kept her copy of it inside of her wallet all of these years. Now, both Janice and Prentiss had found after their mother's passing they kept the announcement all of these years. It triggered their curiosity to find each other and see what they are doing now.

#13

They finally made contact with each other and went out to brunch together. The amazing thing was that even after all of these years, the pair still had feelings for each other. Six months later, they would be engaged and listed a new wedding announcement just like the last one except this one said: "The date was finally set..."

#14

Two years after reuniting, Janice and Prentiss said their "I dos" While they regret the 50 years that they spent apart, they plan on not missing a single day of each other's lives from this point forward.

#15

This is such a wonderful comparison of how they looked then to how they look now. Even though they will not be able to have the children that they had dreamed of having way back when they plan to spend the rest of their lives together enjoying each other's company...and no one can interfere with their happiness this time around.