As a teenager living in Nashville in the 1950s, Caroline Reeves had her eye on the class ring worn by her high school sweetheart, Eddie Lamm.
To Reeves, the ring would be far more than a token of affection. It was an engagement ring.
"And I was the type of person that would have committed myself to him for the rest of my life with that ring," she told David Begnaud in a recent segment for CBS Mornings.
But Lamm wasn't ready to make a commitment. He had aspirations of flying planes for the Air Force.
On their final high school date, Lamm asked Reeves for a kiss.
Recalled Lamm, "We pulled up in her driveway and I said,' May I kiss you?' And so I kissed her goodnight, then, not knowing that that's the last time I would kiss her in 64 or 65 years."
Even though they had dated for several years, Lamm failed to reassure her that they would have a future together, and she sensed that the relationship was over.
"I opened that car door and I got out of that car and ran up the steps and slammed the door and went upstairs and cried all night," she told Begnaud. "That was it."
Two years later, both Reeves and Lamm would be married to other people and their life trajectories would be heading in different directions.
But Reeves never forgot her first love, nor that class ring.
Reeves, now 82, would go on to become Miss Nashville 1959, an interior decorator, novelist and magazine writer. Her first marriage ended in the 1980s, and her second husband passed away in 2001.
Lamm, 85, would move to California and serve 21 years in the US Air Force, flying KC-135s. His 60-year marriage to Polly Piper was cut short when she lost her battle to ALS in 2021.
Over the course of the 60-plus years that the former high school sweethearts were apart, Reeves and Lamm admitted that they often wondered how the other was doing. Reeves remembered Lamm as the cutest boy on campus. Lamm recalled being star struck the first time he laid eyes on Reeves.
"It was all over," he said.
Unexpectedly, during the spring of 2022, Lamm was overcome by the need to contact his high school girlfriend.
It took nine tries before Reeves would answer the phone.
"I don't answer unsolicited calls," she joked.
When she finally picked up, all the feelings they had for each other started rushing back.
After a few days of catching up, Lamm professed his love and booked a flight from California to Nashville.
She picked him up at the airport and at first glance she was totally blown away.
"He peeked his head into my car and I just — he took my breath away," Reeves said. "I've never seen anything like it in my entire life. I just can't even explain it."
She confessed on national TV that she was so excited about the reunion that she zoomed to a Fedex parking lot near the airport after closing time.
"And I got out [of the car] and jumped around and we hugged and kissed," she said, "and I remember looking up at the security lights and insects were swirling all around."
Three months later, Lamm popped the question.
He explained how he wanted to give Reeves a traditional engagement ring, but she wouldn't settle for anything less than the class ring he wore in high school.
"I love it. And I love you," she said, punctuating the sentiment with a kiss.
When asked how she would describe the newest chapter of their lives, Reeves said, "Miraculous."
"It's miraculous that we found our love again," she said.
Today, Reeves and Lamm are newlyweds.
"And we asked God all the time, 'Why did you do this?' And now we know: To take care of each other," she concluded.
See the full segment, below...
Credits: Screen captures via Youtube.com / CBS Mornings.