Couple remarries after nearly 40 years of divorce

Even though it was a 41-year journey, Linda and Rich Parsons completed the circle, just as their newly exchanged wedding rings symbolized.

It only took about 20 minutes for the Rev. Dave Taylor to introduce the newly married couple following a ceremony Monday in First Congregational United Church of Christ.

The former Decatur residents were first married on the same date, at the same time and in the same place in 1965. For this second wedding, Rich Parsons even had the same best man: John Rea, now of The Dalles, Ore. Linda Parson's matron of honor was longtime friend Terry Claussen of Holdrege, Neb.

This was not a renewal of vows ceremony.

After the couple met at the home of a mutual friend - Rich Parsons was a student at Eisenhower High School, Linda at MacArthur High School - they dated for about 11/2 years.

"We divorced in July 1969," Rich said.

"But we were separated in the summer or fall of 1967," added Linda Parsons.

They drifted apart.

He went to Tampa, Fla., to the University of South Florida and stayed working in Florida as a mechanical engineer for Marin Marietta. He retired in May of this year. He never remarried.

She did remarry, but, "I'm not proud of that move." Linda Parsons worked for Jewel/Eisner in Champaign, then moved to Arkansas, where she owned a gift shop from which she retired.

So how did they reconnect?

Linda Parsons was doing genealogy and happened across information that his father, mother and brother had died.

"I felt like I owed him a phone call."

She initially lost her nerve to call, but the next morning, she said, "I grabbed myself by the boot straps and dialed the number, thinking 'You need to rehearse something.' "

They talked, continued talking, met and made extended visits and knew by the end of the year, they'd hit it off again.

"He asked me to marry him on New Year's Eve, just like he did 40 years ago.

"There's a lot of divine intervention here," said Linda Parsons. "The first time we laid eyes on each other (since 1975) was when he got off the plane.

Read it all at the Herald & Review.