7. “Sweet Lorraine” Song
Fred Stobaugh married Lorraine, the “prettiest girl [he] ever saw” in Peoria, Illinois in 1940. Their romance was always happy and wonderful. They had three kids and four grandchildren. 73 years after their marriage, Lorraine passed away.
Fred, now 96, came across an ad for a local song-writing contest a month after his wife’s death. Though he was tone deaf and a non-musician, but he wrote one of the most beautiful and heart-wrenching songs “Sweet Lorraine” that hit the airwaves. Green Shoe Studio liked it so much that they made a short documentary titled A Letter From Fred to show the world Fred’s story.
8. Distance Matters Not
Irina lived in Moscow working for the Institute of World Economy and International Relations. It was in 1970, there she met an American professor named Woodford McClellan. Both fell in love and got married in May 1974.
Within a couple of months, in August, Woodford’s visa expired and he had to leave the Soviet Union and return home.
He kept on trying to visit his wife in Moscow but was repeatedly denied Visa. Irina too was denied permission to leave the country, without explanation. The newlywed couple marked their anniversaries with cards, photographs, and phone calls. 11 years later, Irina finally got green light to move to the US. In late January 1986, they met at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport.
