High School Sweethearts Rekindle Romance 7 Decades Later — and Can’t Stop Cuddling: 'We're Like Teenagers'
Bill Hassinger, 90, and Joanne Blakkan, 92, went their separate ways but decades later, when they weren't looking for love, they found it again with each other
Courtesy of Joanne Blakkan, Courtesy of Frank Loomis
Bill Hassinger and Joanne Blakkan at their high school after prom party and nowMichigan high school sweethearts Bill Hassinger and Joanne Blakkan were sent to the principal’s office for smooching on the bus, and more than 70 years later, they've picked up from where they started.
“Believe it or not, we’re in love at our age,” Blakkan, 92, of North Muskegon, tells PEOPLE. “I want his hugs and kisses and he feels the same way. It’s just like when we were teenagers.”
Before they reconnected, Blakkan had heard through mutual friends that Hassinger, 90, was living in nearby Manistee and had retired as a Lieutenant Colonel from the Michigan State Police. Hassinger had taken her to her prom, but they hadn’t had any connection with each other since she graduated in 1949 and left to go to college at Michigan State.
Since then, she married and had three children before her husband died in 1989. Meanwhile, Hassinger joined the military, married a classmate, had three children — two of whom have since passed away — and was widowed in 2021 after 68 years of marriage.
“We went our separate ways,” Blakkan says. “I had lived alone all this time, and I certainly wasn’t looking for love or a man. I was content. But he was always in the back of my mind. I loved that young boy.”
Courtesy of Linda Blakkan
The couple shares a love of Michigan StateJoanne and her daughter Linda were looking up old classmates in 2022 for a 73rd reunion when Blakkan started wondering what had happened to her old flame. And she thought she would contact him to reminisce and catch up.
After chatting on the phone, the two met for lunch. Hassinger laughs and says, “She didn't look anything like I remembered her 73 years ago. I guess life will do that to you.”
But age had not dimmed the sparkle in her eyes and her vivacious spirit. At heart, she was still the high school majorette he remembered.
“We just went back to the same feelings for each other,” Hassinger says. “We're just as much and more in love today than when we were teenagers.”
Courtesy of Joanne Blakkan
Bill Hassinger fell in love with the high school majoretteLinda says that growing up, her mom never mentioned Hassinger to her, but she remembered seeing a sparkly green bracelet in her mom’s jewelry box as a child.
However, the first time she met Hassinger, they came to her house to watch a Michigan State football game and Blakkan was wearing the bracelet. Then she learned that Hassinger had given it to her for her birthday when they were in high school.
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“Neither one of them were looking for this,” says her daughter. “My father died and she never dated after that. I don't think she would've dated anyone besides Bill. Both sides of the family are thrilled.”
Courtesy of Linda Blakkan
The bracelet Bill Hassinger gave to Joanne Blakkan for her birthday while they were in high school.For now, the couple spends every weekend together — and "of course" they'll be spending Valentine's Day together as well. Blakkan says they will probably go out to eat, while Hassinger adds he hopes she'll make him a banana cream pie.
"Well, I guess I know what I'll be doing on Valentine's now," she says.
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Hassinger still has his home about 80 miles away from Blakkan’s but they're pondering their future, whether it be moving in together in one home, or a new retirement complex.
“We play a lot of cards like cribbage, gin, and we work puzzles,” Hassinger says. “But most of the time we just enjoy each other’s company. “
What they do know is that they want to spend what’s left of their lives together.
“No one knows how much time you have," Blakkan says. "Both of us are in reasonably good health for our age and mentally alert. So we want to enjoy our time here."
Courtesy of Linda Blakkan
The couple enjoys getting out on the boat.Like every couple, the pair have also mastered the art of compromise.
Blakkan insists on walking at least a mile every day but says “he’s not quite as enthused about it as I am.”
Hassinger laughs and says, “Walking is just a medium to get from one place to another and I don’t necessarily have to walk every day to remember how to do it. But I walk because she likes to do it and I like being with her.”
Courtesy of Linda Blakkan
Bill Hassinger and Joanne Blakkan on their daily walkLinda says the couple are so happy they’re “giddy” — and so is everyone around them.
“Even the love they found aside, this just offers a general kind of hope for people,” she says. “Life’s not over because you’re aging.”
Since appearing in the local news and on a national morning show, Blakkan and Hassinger get recognized quite a lot. "Three or four times, people have paid for our lunch because they think we are cute,” she says with a laugh. “We are having a ball.”
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