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REPORT: 50 Years After High School, Two Former Students Fall In Love

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John Ruane Contributor
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A 71-year-old retired woman in Richmond, Virginia decided to reach out through Facebook to a man she had known 50 years earlier during high school, sparking a love connection that was decades in the making.

Betty Conner had kept tabs on Peter Nickless since their time at Huguenot High School in the late 1960s, according to a story in the Washington Post.

They had known each other their entire lives, according to the Post. Conner dated Nickless’ best friend while he dated hers. But after high school, they both launched careers, got married and divorced, eventually losing touch completely.

“The last time I think I saw him was at a New Year’s Eve party in 1967,” Betty recalled in an interview with the Post. “It was the first semester of college. He doesn’t remember the party, but I do.”

Fast forward to 2018, and Conner found herself consumed with thoughts about the high school quarterback and was ready to go out for a pass.

She tracked him down on Facebook and found that Nickless was living on a sailboat in Baja California, according to the Post. A series of emails and long phone calls followed and the couple began to develop a romance. (RELATED: REPORT: High School Sweethearts Tie Knot After More Than 65 Years Apart)

Peter left his boat and moved in with Betty for a while, taking it one step at a time. “I’m gonna just come there,” he told her. “I can see us being together for the rest of our lives.”

Now, Nickless is selling his boat and the two are settling in together, the Post reports.

“Sometimes good friendships very unexpectedly develop into much more.” Betty later wrote on Facebook, according to the Post. “We assure you that no one is more surprised about this than we are!”