GhLinks Media
Over four weekends in the fall of 1953, Claude Frable fell in love with Marita Swenson.
“They would bus the girls up to Fort Devens for dances and that’s how I met her,” Frable said.
At the time, Frable, now 91, was serving in the U.S. Army.
Following their initial month together, he was stationed in Germany.
“It was during the Korean War,” Claude Frable said.
His service in Europe spanned three years.
Claude Frable and Marita Swenson reunion
Despite Frable’s efforts to maintain contact, the pair never had the chance to meet again, until a Monday meet-up in Issaquah, 70 years after they first met.
Attempting to hold back tears, Swenson, now 87, shared, “I really am trying not to cry,” as she was reunited with Frable at Revel Issaquah, the independent living community where Frable lives.
The community generously sponsored Swenson’s journey from Arizona, where she resides in a Revel community in Scottsdale.
Frable got a phone number for Swenson in 2009 and they’ve shared phone calls and photos of their families since then.
But Monday’s visit, face-to-face, was special. The two talked for more than an hour. They never stopped holding hands.
“I’m just glad to see him again,” Swenson said.
“This is the happiest day of my life,” Frable said.
Both having lost their spouses and now being grandparents, Swenson, a survivor of brain and lung cancer, and Frable had much to catch up on.
“Well, he was tall and very handsome, and a good dancer,” Swenson remembered.
This story will not end with a wedding. These two long-lost lovers are going to keep things simple and just be friends.
“This is the happiest day of my life!”, Frable added.
