Six decades after meeting the love of his life at high school and spending 45 years apart, a 78-year-old man got down on his knees at an airport and surprised his life-long love with a proposal to spend the remainder of their lives together.
Dr. Thomas McMeekin and Nancy Gambell, both 78, met as teens at high school in Quincy, California. Ms. Gambell, then a cheerleader, had no idea that the sporty, would-be doctor had a crush on her. They dated briefly in college before life took them in different directions into work, marriage, and raising children in different states.
“Back in high school I didn’t date her, because she, to me, was untouchable,” Dr. McMeekin, a dermatologist, told The Epoch Times. “She used to cheer in the games I played.”
Dr. McMeekin played basketball, baseball, and football. Considering Ms. Gambell to be out of his league, he never asked her out for a date despite having a crush on her for years.
Only after Dr. McMeekin attended Stanford University for a Bachelor of Science degree and Ms. Gambell attended San Fransisco State University did they date.
However, after that, life took them in different directions.
“I went to Germany after my sophomore year. ... I went and ended up marrying the person I sat next to on the airplane on the way to Europe,” Dr. McMeekin said. “We were married for 30 years, I had two wonderful kids.”
I didn’t see Nancy again until my 50th high school reunion,“ he said. ”She was with her future husband then, I was with my wife, and we talked.”
A mutual friend had kept the couple connected over the years. However, it was not until another decade had passed that their love story would hit its peak.
Ms. Gambell, who has a master’s in special education, was helping organize the high school’s 60th reunion with Dr. McMeekin’s friend Jim Conway. Curious to know if Dr. McMeekin would attend the reunion, Ms. Gambell asked Mr. Conway a couple of times and then texted Dr. McMeekin herself. It was the perfect excuse to reconnect.
‘God Had a Hand’
Dr. McMeekin and Ms. Gambell who have been married in the past were now both single. As sparks flew, Dr. McMeekin knew he couldn’t wait for the reunion to reconnect and flew from his home in Tampa, Florida, to the West Coast to see his long-lost love.“We had difficulty just finding each other,” he said. “When I saw her finally, I just stood and watched; she said I ’stared' ... We had this beautiful embrace, I kissed her, and it was just magical. ... I think God had a hand ... it just felt so perfect that I’ve never questioned it. It just was meant to be.”
As the pair reconnected after years, Dr. McMeekin fell in love with Ms. Gambell’s mind and found that everything she did resonated with him.
The Proposal
After Dr. McMeekin went back home, he began to plan his surprise of proposing to Ms. Gambell.He turned to a medical assistant at the clinic where he works for help.
“She said, ‘You’ve got to go big or go home. ... Hit her right as she gets off the plane. We’ll be there and we’ll greet her after you propose. We want to see it,'” he said. “I never invited eight of my staff members to come, I invited two; I get there and eight show up. Nancy doesn’t know a single one, so they hid behind some chairs.”
Dr. McMeekin greeted Ms. Gambell from the plane and presented a necklace with both of their birthstones: a turquoise stone for her sign, Sagittarius, and four diamonds for his sign, Aries.
“I showed her the jewelry box and then I said, ‘That’s just a preamble,’” he said. “My staff then brought a pillow ... so I got down and read this proposal that I had written down. I didn’t think I could get through it by memorizing it.”
Through tears, Dr. McMeekin proposed to his life-long love with the following sweet words:
Ms. Gambell, who knew she had a surprise awaiting her, listened to the beautiful words of the proposal and teared up.
“I couldn’t have said anything but, ‘I will!,’” she told The Epoch Times.
‘Right Here, Right Now’
“It’s just been unbelievable, and we’re blessed to have found each other again,” Ms. Gambell said, claiming that keeping in contact after high school was “a wonderful preamble to us finally connecting where we should be connecting, which is right here, right now.”Needless to say, since the beautiful proposal was posted on social media, the public response has been overwhelming. The pair have had people from across the country reaching out to them.
“Friends of mine I hadn’t seen in forever, and even strangers, have reached out to us,” Ms. Gambell said. “It’s been heartwarming that we have touched so many people with our story.”
As they prepare for their upcoming wedding, Dr. McMeekin plans to resign from work in September, sell his home in Tampa, and move back to Quincy to be with his fiancée and her close-knit circle of friends. He hopes their dogs will become “the best of friends,” and has already been fondly nicknamed “New Dad” by Ms. Gambell’s two sons.
The couple is planning an intimate family wedding under the pergola in Ms. Gambell’s backyard and will be married by the bride’s best friend.
Since reconnecting, the senior sweethearts’ message to others is that it’s never too late to find your happiness.
“I can say without hesitation that she loves me absolutely as much as I love her,” the doctor said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that we have this synergy so look for that.”
