When your ex pops back into your life… after 55 years

‘Call it fate!’ Junior high sweethearts who wed at 18 and then divorced in 1965 rekindle their romance and get remarried 55 YEARS later

• Vietnam veteran Dennis Reynolds and his wife Diane, both 77, met at age 13 and married at age 18 in 1961
• They had two children but divorced after four and a half years
• Both went on to remarry — Dennis twice — and Diane had four more kids
• A year after Dennis was widowed for the second time in 2018, he reached out to Diane to reconnect and the pair got to talking
• They fell back in love, moved in together, and remarried on November 11, 2020 — 59 years to the day of their first wedding  

A Nevada couple who divorced in 1965 has rekindled their romance and remarried — 59 years to the day after their first wedding. 

Vietnam veteran Dennis Reynolds and his wife Diane, both 77, were junior high sweethearts who first tied the knot right after high school graduation in 1961 — but after two kids and four years of marriage, they called it quits and went their separate ways.

Over the following five and a half decades, Dennis and Diane both remarried, had more kids, and lived totally different lives before fate and a telephone call drew them back to one another.  

Reunited! Dennis Reynolds and his wife Diane, both 77, have remarried 55 years after they divorced

Looking back: They tied the knot the first time in 1961, five months after high school graduation. They were both 18

The lovebirds first met at just 13 years old when they were both students at Sun Valley Junior High in Los Angeles. 

‘For me, it was love at first sight,’ Dennis told Fox News. ‘I think Diane was curious because I was a hillbilly from Oregon.’

‘He had a cute accent,’ Diane added. ‘I mean, we were only kids. We were like 13. We were going steady when we started to see each other — that was a big deal then, you know?’

‘I used to take her to the movies all the time,’ Dennis said, speaking to People. ‘We’d hold hands in the movies.’

They continued to date while attending different high schools, and five months after graduation, they got married on Nov. 11, 1961. They were both 18.  

Together, the two quickly welcomed two sons: Curtis, who was born in 1962, and Keith, who was born in 1963.

But it wasn’t long before the pair drifted apart and decided that things weren’t going to work — and in 1965, they divorced. 

In the intervening years, both moved on and lived full lives. Dennis remarried twice, first to Bonnie in 1969 (who died in 2000) and then to Cher in 2001 (who died in 2018).

Diane, meanwhile, married John in 1967. He died in 1981.   

Diane also had four more kids, but tragically, the two she and Dennis shared died young: Curtis passed at age 38 in 2001 as a result of injuries he sustained in the military, while Keith died by suicide at age 25 in 1989 after he contracted AIDS. 

Though Dennis and Diane shared kids and grandchildren, the two barely kept in touch over the years.

But in the summer of 2019, they were both single and thinking that they’d like companionship.

‘After about a year or so of being by myself, you know, I had family and my kids, but I was lonely,’ Dennis admitted.

Together, the two welcomed two sons: Curtis, who was born in 1962, and Keith, who was born in 1963

Split: But it wasn’t long before the pair drifted apart and decided that things weren’t going to work — and in 1965, they divorced

Diane insists she didn’t think much of Dennis over the years, but he never stopped loving her

Diane, meanwhile, had fallen on her way to work and was put on disability — and she prayed for a relationship to help her through.

‘I wasn’t recuperating very well, and I said, “God, I’d like to have a relationship with somebody,”‘ she recalled. 

‘And the next day, Dennis called me. ‘I said, “God, couldn’t you have done a little better than that?”‘ 

Dennis had just called Diane to check in on her, but the two continued to talk. After several calls, Diane, who at the time lived in Washington, DC, decided to pay Dennis a visit.

She flew to Las Vegas to see him and her daughter, who happened to live nearby. While her daughter was at work, Dennis took her out, showing her around town and taking her to lunch.  

Take two: The two got remarried on November 11, 2020, 59 years to the day after their first wedding

Time and wisdom: Both widowed, they’d reconnected when Dennis reached out

The two had a great time. 

Diane says that she had hardly been pining away for her ex — in fact, she didn’t even really think of him — but spending time together once again changed things.

‘He just really melted my heart,’ Diane admitted. ‘Call it fate, call it whatever you want, but we just feel like it was probably meant to be.’ 

Dennis, meanwhile, insists he never stopped loving Diane. 

‘It was kind of exciting to get back together and fill in all of those gaps. During those 50 years, we were both in different directions,’ Diane said.

By February 2020, the rekindled couple were going strong, and Diane moved across the country to be with Dennis. 

In love: By February 2020, the rekindled couple were going strong, and Diane moved across the country to be with Dennis

‘I think that we both matured and blossomed and learned a lot,’ Diane said. ‘We both were very successful for what we had been through’

‘Our kids thought we were crazy,’ Diane said in a video for Veterans United Home Loans.

Just over a year after reconnecting, the couple got remarried on their original wedding anniversary, November 11 — 59 years after their first wedding.

‘I think that we both matured and blossomed and learned a lot,’ Diane said. ‘We both were very successful for what we had been through.   

‘When we got back together, it was just wonderful because we had that simplicity again, and we had the money, the maturity that we could go out and do some fun things.’ 

Dennis says that he is ‘excited about the future,’ gushing that the best part of being back together is ‘waking up and seeing her every morning.’ 

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