It started with a nurse’s tip and a bad Elvis movie.
Kathy and Jim, who have been married for 50 years, are trying to find a nurse named Delia, whose nudge helped bring them together, according to a Monday, July 27 press release from Canadian public health authority Fraser Health.
The couple met at Surrey Memorial Hospital in British Columbia when Kathy was 16 and Jim was 17. In January 1975, Kathy was “seriously ill” and was admitted to the hospital’s geriatric ward because no other room was available. Jim was also in the ward.
Kathy told Fraser Health she was feeling down when “this lovely nurse came in and said, ‘Go check out the cute guy in the next room.’ ”
According to the release, Delia also told Kathy to watch for Jim as he walked the hospital halls with a friend.
Kathy said she used that advice to place herself near Jim as he headed for the elevator one day.
“I was there on purpose,” Kathy recalled.
Their first chat was simple.
“We started talking about the weather,” Kathy said, adding that “that’s kind of how I picked him up.”
That night, the pair left the geriatric ward to watch Blue Hawaii in the hospital visitors’ lounge.
“It was such a terrible movie,” Kathy said of the Elvis Presley film. “We stuck it out anyway.”
Jim was discharged the next morning, but later returned to visit Kathy and told her he would come back every day for the rest of her stay. Fraser Health said he did that for the next two weeks, until Kathy was discharged.
“He said he’d be back, but you never really know if someone will. But he really did. He just kept coming back,” Kathy said.
When Jim came back to take her home from the hospital, Fraser Health said he brought her a ruby ring.
“I was very surprised,” Kathy said. “I thought, ‘Okay, this is pretty serious.’ ”
She still wears the ring today, according to the release.
Kathy and Jim married in 1976 and have two sons.
As they marked their 50th wedding anniversary, they shared their story with Fraser Health in the hope of reconnecting with Delia. Fraser Health said Kathy had tried to find the nurse years earlier, but had no success.
If she finds her, Kathy said she knows exactly what she wants to say: “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
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