Gerrie and Geert from Eindhoven fell in love when they were 15. They were together for five years until they were forced to separate. They met again two years ago. Love is back too. “She is my beacon”.
Gerrie and Geert, both 91 years old, attended the Gemeentelijke Lyceum Eindhoven (municipal lyceum Eindhoven) together. As 15-year-olds they saw each other on the schoolyard. “I immediately thought he was a handsome boy”, Gerrie says. Geert also immediately liked her: “Our eyes met. She was a beautiful girl”.
Secretly
They had a relationship for five years, but it all had to be secret. Gerrie was Catholic and Geert Protestant. Eventually Geert’s parents found out and he was sent away to Amsterdam. Gerrie stayed in Eindhoven. Her heart broke. “My world collapsed”, she says. She didn’t see it coming. “It was terrible, you don’t expect it”. Geert was a little less sad. “I pushed the whole of Brabant away. The whole relationship was defined by fear, he explains.
Found it
The two moved on with life. They both married someone else and had children. Seventy years later they met again. Gerrie was asked if she wanted to write something about her old school for a newspaper. That article ended up with Geert, thanks to his sister. “I saw her name in the article and thought ‘gosh, she’s still alive. I would like to see her again”, Geert says. Finally he got her number. “And it was so nice to hear her voice again”. It took him a while to get to talk to her. She does not answer an unknown number. But after five calls she became curious. “After that first conversation I thought: ‘He thought about me’”.
Click
The two caught up on the phone and decide to meet. It was a beautiful reunion. It soon felt like old times. “I was constantly thinking about the past,” says Geert. “Love came back all over again.” Gerrie also clicked immediately. “I don’t think that our love ever really went away. It has always been preserved.”
They have now been together for more than two years. They take strolls together, go out for dinner or book a hotel for a few days. “She is my beacon,” says Geert. The happiness is also endless for Gerrie. “My children say I’m smiling again.”
Source: Studio040
Translation by: Bob
