A woman has finally married the love of her life - 43 years after her mom pressured her to end her interracial relationship with a Black man.
Jeanne Gustavson, 69, and her new husband Stephen Watts, 73, recently spoke to PEOPLE magazine about their love story, where they detailed how racial differences had forced them to end their relationship during the 1970s.
Initially, the pair fell for each other in 1971 when Jeanne was a junior and Stephen a senior at Loyola University in Chicago.
"He was very striking," Jeanne said of Stephen. "Extremely handsome, dressed impeccably, always a gentleman - everything you'd want in a boyfriend," she added.
Sadly, Jeanne's mother did not approve of her relationship with Stephen as he is African American. She even met with the university's Dean to request that the two lovebirds be kept apart, but they managed to continue dating for seven years.
However, Jeanne eventually landed a nursing job when she graduated from university, requiring her to take a long commute to work, where she was given late shifts. This posed many difficulties for the couple, as Stephen didn't own a car. As such, the pair were unable to see each other.
"I was completely overwhelmed by everything," Jeanne recalled. "The family issue was always weighing on me because it fractured the relationship between my mother and myself forever. She was always my mother and I always loved her, but it affected our relationship for the rest of my life."
While they had thought about marriage, Jeanne and Stephen eventually realized it would be far to difficult, given the lack of support from Jeanne's family. "I would've lost my entire family," she said. "I knew that if I did marry him, I probably wouldn't see my family again."
Then, one night, Jeanne broke up with Stephen during a telephone call, where she told him she loved him but could no longer continue seeing him. In the interview, Jeanne stated that she has always regretted the phone call, which forced the pair to cease talking for several decades, CBS detailed.
Jeanne then went on to marry someone else, eventually divorcing him. She began searching for Stephen, eventually locating the mailing address for his niece. Putting pen to paper, she wrote her a note, with Stephen's niece informing Jeanne that he was living in a nursing home.
In May 2021, Jeanne called the nursing home where Stephen was living after she he didn't respond to a letter she wrote him, but a nurse informed her that he was unable to speak on the phone. "Being a nurse, immediately, I started thinking of different things that might be wrong with him, where he couldn't write to me. I made a decision to go to Chicago to see Steve. I had to have resolution," she said.
Finally, they saw each other for the first time in decades, with Stephen immediately recognizing Jeanne.
After suffering two strokes and losing a leg, as well as being homeless in Chicago at one point, he had been at the nursing home for 18 years. Both had been married but neither had children.
In October 2022, the pair got married in front of 650 guests at their home in Oregon. "We can spend the rest of our lives together making plans. I gladly took his last name. I've wanted it for a long time," Jeanne said.
Congratulations to the happy couple! This truly is a love story that can bring a tear to anyone's eye.
