MANCHESTER, N.J. — They were the toast of Bogota High School in Bergen County. With heartthrob looks and the dance moves to match, Bob Berry and Marjorie Palmer jitterbugged the night away at their senior prom in 1940.
“We were the class dancers,” Bob said. “You should have seen her jitterbug.”
Marjorie laughed, adding, “We could do everything.”
Then life got in the way. The U.S entered World War II and Bob went off to war in the Pacific. They lost touch — for the better part of 70 years.
“We never corresponded,” Marjorie said. “We were so close. I gave him a beautiful gift when he went over.”
Life has given them a beautiful gift now. Both 95, having lost their spouses after decades of loving marriages, Bob and Marjorie are back together. They live a few miles apart in Ocean County, go out to the movies and dinner, and savor a second-chance romance that would make a fine Hollywood script.
“It’s really wonderful,” said Louise Kyasky, Marjorie’s daughter. “It’s so nice for them to have each other because of their ages. There’s really no one else around who can remember the things they remember because there’s no one else left.”
Accidental reunion
Bob was with the marines in the Pacific when he found out Marjorie had gotten married to Richard Webster, a friend from Ridgefield Park.
“I was disappointed, but I said to myself, ‘At least she’s marrying a good guy,’” he said.
Bob also did just fine. He returned home in 1945 and married Elise “Lee” Lawler. They were together for 65 years before she passed in 2010. Marjorie, who lost Richard in 2000, came to the wake — they maintained mutual friends — but they didn’t reconnect until the following year. By then, Bob was living in Berkeley Township and Marjorie in Manchester.
“An old friend, I went to his wife’s wake, and while I’m there Marge comes over and says, ‘How are you, Bob?’” Berry said. “I said, ‘I’m hanging in there, doing the best I can.’”
Bob explained how he didn’t get out much because he felt too alone.
“She said to me, ‘This is crazy Bob, I live seven miles away from you. Why don’t you just call me and I’ll go out with you?’” he said.
So they went to a movie, The King’s Speech. Marjorie had seen it already.
“But she said she had missed some parts,” Bob said with a wink and a grin.
‘We think young’
Now they’re a regular item, with a standing date on Sundays plus a couple of midweek get-togethers.
“It’s much nicer having him,” Marjorie said. “There’s something to look forward to. What else would I do? My friends are so much younger than I am. I have a lot of friends, but now I have him — and he’s older.”
Bob interjected, “Only by four months!”
The point is, at 95, they are helping each other live life to the fullest.
“A lot of people sort of give in — they give in to old age, or because they’re not well,” Marjorie said. “Our health is good, and we think young. I think that’s the main thing.”
Their families, which consist of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, are thrilled about the arrangement.
“I remember my mom telling me what a lovely lady dad’s girlfriend was in high school — that you should meet her sometime,” said Bob’s daughter Lois Kohles, who lives in Ortley Beach. “Little did I know. If there’s such a thing as smiling down from heaven, (mom) must be very happy for them.”
Kyasky, who lives in Point Pleasant, said the union gives everyone peace of mind and even has created friendships across the two families.
“We’re all so happy for the two of them,” she said. “They’re great company together.”
Bob and Marjorie can’t dance anymore — “now we walk with canes,” she said — but they’re still keeping each other on their toes.
“I don’t think we’re too bad for 95,” Marjorie said.
No one would argue.
