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Texas ponders: Love lovelier 48 years later, 2nd time around?

On Behalf of | Aug 2, 2012 | Firm News

There’s a classic tune that dates back to the days before the Kennedy administration that says that, “Love is lovelier the second time around.” Frank Sinatra had a hit with it back in the day. Dallas fans with a hint of seasoning will recall that the song highlights the beauty of being able to find love again, “with both feet on the ground.”

While the quest for love is one most of us embark upon at some point in our lives, those who go through divorce, child custody and property division issues, rarely think about it as being something you will find with a person you have broken up with. But that’s one of the unique things about human nature. One just never knows. And it’s one of the things that makes family law practice so different.

A story coming out of upstate New York highlights this point really well. It’s about Lena Henderson and Roland Davis. The couple, both 85, first married when they were just in their teens. They stuck together through four children and 20 years and then divorced. Now, nearly 50 years after that, they are remarrying. The weekend ceremony is slated to be witnessed by four generations of family.

Their story is not particularly unusual, perhaps. They married before a justice of the peace around 1944. There was no big wedding. No honeymoon. As Henderson tells it, they tied the knot and “he went to work and I went home.” They divorced 20 years later after Davis had wound up a career in the military.

It’s not clear what led to the split, but both Henderson and Davis went on to second marriages and eventually were widowed. Over the years, they remained in touch about each other through their four children, but never saw much of each other. She lived in New York. He lived in Colorado.

At the urging of one of his daughters, Davis, who had been living alone, recently moved back to New York. They began to see more of each other and this past Easter, Davis proposed. She said yes.

While this wedding will have much more fanfare than their first, the couple is approaching it with subdued emotion. They say it’s “nice” to be an engaged couple.

The children are more excited. The oldest, 65, says “I’m as excited as some 9-year-old whose parents are getting back together.”

Source: ABC6.com, “NY couple, 85, to remarry 47 years after divorce,” Carolyn Thompson, AP, July 31, 2012

  • Our firm handles a wide variety of family law issues. If you would like to learn more about our practice, please visit our Dallas family law website.

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