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Seniors Victor and Roberta look at each other with great emotion

Victor Reunites with His Love of 33 Years

Have you ever been forced to spend time apart from someone you love? Separation is always challenging, no matter how long. But there’s nothing that compares to the joy you feel when you’re reunited again. Victor, age 95, can tell you all about that.

Victor grew up on a farm in Montana and learned the value of hard work from a young age. But soon, his life path would take him far away from home.

Victor was drafted into the Navy and bravely served during World War II. Throughout his service, Victor traveled to China, Korea, and Japan. To this day, Victor prefers not to speak of the details from his time in the Navy, showing his humility and the extreme sacrifice he made for his country.

Upon returning to Montana, Victor still wanted to give back to others. He became a volunteer fireman and continued to support his community in this way for 30 years.

Reflecting on his life, a great loss still affects Victor. After 30 years of marriage, Victor’s wife passed away from cancer at age 59. At the time, their children were grown and living away from home. Victor felt isolated; the loss impacted him greatly.

“There isn’t a day that I don’t think of her,” he shared.

Victor found solace in his friend Roberta. Roberta could understand Victor’s grief, having also lost her husband. She became an immense comfort in his life, and for over a year, Victor and Roberta wrote letters to each other, connecting and supporting each other from afar. And as their friendship turned to love, they married in a religious ceremony.

Victor and Roberta shared 33 happy years of living together. But when health issues required Victor to receive more intensive care than she could provide, the pair had to face an extremely difficult decision.

Although living apart was the last thing they wanted to do, they had no choice but to do so. In 2018, Victor moved into a care facility for Veterans, and Roberta moved to Texas to be near her family so that she wasn’t alone.

Given the pandemic’s complications and their limited income, Roberta and Victor had only seen each other once since their separation, and they were unsure if they would be able to do so again.

Despite their distance, Victor and Roberta’s love never wavered. They stayed connected by talking on the phone every morning and evening, sometimes chatting for hours.

And just like in the early days of their romance, Victor still writes a letter to Roberta every day.

When Wish of a Lifetime heard Victor’s story, we were thrilled to fulfill his wish to reconnect with Roberta in person once again. Full of anticipation, Victor traveled from Montana to Texas to see Roberta and her family. When Victor and Roberta embraced for the first time since the summer of 2021, they were both full of tears and laughter.

During Victor’s visit, he and Roberta were inseparable. The trip allowed him to experience the everyday things they often talked about on the phone firsthand, like attending Roberta’s church service.

They also attended an award ceremony for Roberta’s grandson and shared an early Thanksgiving dinner with the family. And, of course, the pair went on a romantic dinner date for two.

When we asked Victor about the highlight of his trip, he said it was simply to hold Roberta’s hand and be near her once again. He felt fulfilled and full of love.

“This is something that I will never forget,” Victor said.

When heading home from his wish, Victor turned to his traveling companion Denise with tears in his eyes and said, “That was definitely an experience of a lifetime.”

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