After More Than 70 Years Apart, High School Sweethearts Reconnect and Get Engaged — Now They're Making Up for Lost Time
Bill Hassinger, 91, and Joanne Blakkan, 93, first spoke with Nexstar's WOOD-TV in January 2024, two and a half years after the high school sweethearts reunited after 73 years apart. In early February, the outlet met with the pair again to see how they've made up for lost time.
'We got engaged on Christmas Eve,' Hassinger revealed.
Blakkan — who met Hassinger on the school bus in the 1940s in Muskegon, Michigan — showed off a ring with five small diamonds on her left hand. But the bride-to-be is in no rush to walk down the aisle.
'If and when we get married, it will be very small and intimate,' Blakkan said.
While they may not tie the knot anytime soon, the engaged pair understand that the ring is symbolic of their commitment to each other.
'All the things that go along with making a marriage is just natural and it's natural for the two of us,' Hassinger said. 'Especially the fact that we were together as teenagers and had a good start there.'
The couple fell in love in high school, even going to senior prom together, but soon went their separate ways. Graduating before Hassinger, Blakkan went off to Michigan State University. Meanwhile, Hassinger was later drafted to serve in the Korean War.
Over the years, Hassinger and Blakkan got married and had children with other people. It wasn't until the fall of 2022 that their paths crossed again.
'(My daughter) Linda was helping me do some research on the computer looking for my former classmates that I've lost track of and I came across Bill's name there and I researched a little bit further and saw that his wife had passed away the year before,' Blakkan told WOOD-TV last year. 'I dropped him a note and said it would be fun to reminisce."
'I forgot who she was!' Hassinger teased. 'No, that's not true. I was surprised and I hadn't thought of her or been around her, you know, all this time since high school and I thought well that's interesting, I'll get together, so I called her and told her I'd be down.'
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A few weeks later in September 2022, Hassinger made the 80-mile drive to see Blakkan for a lunch date.
'Neither one of us look the same after several years. I wouldn't have picked her out of a crowd … but once we got over that little bit of a shock, the personalities and the way we feel about each other just came right back,' Hassinger recalled.
'We just really went back to where we were in high school as far as feelings go,' Blakkan added.
The duo went from spending weekends together to rarely spending a day apart.
From going on walks to solving puzzles together, the couple enjoy each other's company. They aren't letting their age define their relationship. Last summer, they went on a road trip together and in February they took a vacation to Hawaii.
'We realize at our age we don't know how much time we have ahead of us. I mean it could be a few years yet, maybe tomorrow. How do any of us know? But in the meantime, we're having a good time,' Blakkan said.
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They plan to continue making as many memories together as they can.
'We thank God every day that at our age, we're still up and around and navigating and having a good time,' Blakkan told WOOD-TV this year. 'It's easy, right Bill?'
'Yes it is,' he answered. 'Just enjoy each other so much that it just seems bred into us."
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