Mark Rolfe, M.D., is a Lung Transplant and Critical Care Pulmonologist at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center. He says we are starting to see an increase in COVID-19 cases requiring hospitalization. Many of those end up in the intensive care unit, where he works.
“The first time I walked into the room of a patient known to have COVID-19, I paused at the door,” admits Rolfe. “I was a little frightened at facing this disease for the first time.”
It was the first case to be diagnosed at INTEGRIS Baptist, and Rolfe reveals it brought back memories from early on in his career. “I grew up in medicine at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic and remember the hysteria around that diagnosis and all the precautions people took to not catch it. We initially wore hazmat suits with those patients and put them in different wings of the hospital.”
He continues, “It feels like I am living those days from my medical school years all over again. This disease, unlike HIV, is very contagious though. A person can spend five to six minutes with someone who is infected and catch this disease.”
In Rolfe’s ICU, every patient there either has the virus or is considered high risk. But despite the apparent danger associated with COVID-19, Rolfe feels his unit is very safe. “We have developed protocols that protect us, and everyone is very careful,” he says. “I feel I am more likely to get this disease shopping at the grocery store than in my hospital or ICU.”
He further explains, “In the public, there are unknown asymptomatic carriers who are very contagious and just don’t know it. In the hospital, I know where the danger is, and I am prepared to deal with it safely.”
Rolfe understands the importance of his work. “We are doctors. We are supposed to take care of the ill to the best of our ability. It is a challenge, but it is also a calling. God gave us these gifts for a reason. It’s time to step into the breach and use them.”
But don’t call him a hero, he says that honor is reserved for America’s finest. “Doctors are not heroes. We are doing what we were trained to do. Generations of physicians have fought off diseases throughout the years. It is our legacy. It is why we are respected in this society. The efforts to fight this disease and help people through it is the price of that respect,” states Rolfe.
“The people who put on a uniform and protect our country are the heroes.
Masks, gloves and hand washing will stop a virus. Nothing stops a bullet, a missile, a grenade, or a knife. The police and military are our heroes.”
However, Rolfe does acknowledge that the novel coronavirus has completely altered life as we knew it. He says each one of us has the power to reclaim it, we just have to work together to do so. “It’s all been said before, but it is worth repeating – wash your hands, don’t touch your face, avoid crowds and stay home to stay safe. Do what you can now, so you don’t become one of my patients later.”

Dear Savvy Senior, Do currently offered vaccines against pneumonia provide seniors any protection against the coronavirus disease? I’ve always been bad about getting vaccinated, but this coronavirus pandemic is causing me to change my thinking. Pro-Vax Patty

Dear Patty,
This is a great question. Because the coronavirus (COVID-19) attacks the lungs and respiratory system, many readers have asked whether the pneumonia vaccines, which are administered to millions of patients each year, might protect someone if they contract the coronavirus.
But unfortunately, the answer is no. Vaccines against pneumonia, such as pneumococcal vaccine and Haemophilus influenza type B vaccine, do not provide protection against the new coronavirus.
This virus is so new and different that it needs its own vaccine. Researchers are in the process of rapidly developing a vaccine against COVID-19, but it is expected to take at least a year before it’s ready.
Having said that, you should also know that there are several other important vaccines the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all seniors should get up to date on after the coronavirus pandemic dies down. Here’s a rundown of what they are, when you should get them, and how they’re covered by Medicare.
Flu vaccine: While annual flu shots are recommended each fall to everyone, they are very important for older adults to get because seniors have a much greater risk of developing dangerous flu complications. According to the CDC, last year up to 647,000 people were hospitalized and 61,200 died because of the flu – most of whom were age 65 and older.
To improve your chances of escaping the seasonal flu, this September or October consider a vaccine specifically designed for people 65 and older. The Fluzone High Dose or FLUAD are the two options that provide extra protection beyond what a standard flu shot offers. And all flu shots are covered under Medicare Part B.
Pneumococcal vaccine: As previously stated, this vaccine protects against pneumonia, which hospitalizes around 250,000 Americans and kills about 50,000 each year. It’s recommended that all seniors, 65 or older, get two separate vaccines – PCV13 (Prevnar 13) and PPSV23 (Pneumovax 23). Both vaccines, which are administered one year apart, protect against different strains of the bacteria to provide maximum protection. Medicare Part B covers both shots if they are taken at least a year apart.
Shingles vaccine: Caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox, shingles is a painful, blistering skin rash that affects more than 1 million Americans every year. All people over age 50 should get the new Shingrix vaccine, which is given in two doses, two to six months apart. Even if you’ve already had shingles, you should still get this vaccination because reoccurring cases are possible. The CDC also recommends that anyone previously vaccinated with Zostavax be revaccinated with Shingrix because it’s significantly more effective.
All Medicare Part D prescription drug plans cover shingles vaccinations, but coverage amounts, and reimbursement rules vary depending on where the shot is given. Check your plan.
Tdap vaccine: A one-time dose of the Tdap vaccine, which covers tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough) is recommended to all adults. If you’ve already had a Tdap shot, you should get a tetanus-diphtheria (Td) booster shot every 10 years. All Medicare Part D prescription drug plans cover these vaccinations.
Other Vaccinations
Depending on your health conditions, preferences, age and future travel schedule, the CDC offers a “What Vaccines Do You Need?” quiz at www2.CDC.gov/nip/adultimmsched to help you determine what additional vaccines may be appropriate for you. You should also talk to your doctor during your next visit about which vaccinations you should get.
To locate a site that offers any of these vaccines, visit VaccineFinder.org and type in your location.
Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.

Story and photos by Darl DeVault

While Oklahoma seniors have been the most vulnerable to COVID-19, our modern heroes, medical health professionals, have also been impacted by this huge stress event.
Medical outcomes are stark. There are no proven therapies to treat or cure the disease. In Oklahoma, the vast majority of COVID-19 deaths are in seniors 65 or older, as high as 80 percent. The statistics go on and on, unchanging in dire descriptions of how vulnerable aging bodies are to the pandemic.
Another group shares a vulnerability every bit as brutal in descriptions. Our medical health professionals are the next highest death rate in America. Besides the brutal numbers of deaths, there is another facet of their suffering.
They are repeatedly exposed to preventable unmanageable stress. This immersion in the onslaught of a pandemic has the potential to inflict post- traumatic stress disorder.
In honor of the 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, the World Health Organization (WHO) has designated 2020 as the “Year of the Nurse and Midwife.” Since National Nurses Week is celebrated soon from May 6 through May 12 it is appropriate to ask one “What are you going through?”
Nurse Beth Bierig said last week from New Jersey, “Working on a floor of all COVID-19 positive patients whose change in status happens quickly without warning, makes you feel constantly guarded as to when your own medical health will quickly turn badly as well. You don’t have time to even comprehend how scary the silent killer surrounds every piece of air you work in, but it weighs heavily on your mind.”
Bierig, from Hackensack University Medical Center, goes on to explain how having a servant’s heart can put a nurse in harm’s way. “While performing life sustaining measures on your patients and respiratory fragments flood the air in the process, you can’t help but wonder, will it be saving their life that takes mine?” she said. “I don’t know the effects it will have on myself or other people, because everyone has had different experiences. Every nursing specialty has their own traumas and people are generally drawn to what they can handle.”
Also, “the support nurses receive after this will affect their long-term mental health pertaining to this situation. The whole situation has affected everyone strongly, not only health care providers. We’re living in a historic time and hopefully we all learn from it.”
From the respiratory therapists who manage ventilators, and technicians that manage ICU equipment to the direct caregivers, stress can be overwhelming. The heroes who share their servant’s heart signed up to be properly supported and use their knowledge and ability to affect positive change. Again, at present, there are no proven therapies to cure COVID-19.
Some health care professionals function where they are overwhelmed by the sheer number of deaths that take place right in front of them. Sometimes as often as hourly, these deaths may inflict a PTSD future on the frontlines of medicine.
For those healers who were constantly worried about their own health because of a shortage of personal protective equipment life can change. Just the apprehension of spreading the disease to their family could have a dire outcome.
COVID-19, the severe respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic is extremely transmissible. Properly protected ICU critical care team workers being readied for patient interaction look like preflight prep before blastoff for our moon missions.
These heroes may share an almost as strong an impact as the vulnerable seniors who perished. Some may suffer grave symptoms of psychological stress impacting their ability to deliver medical health care in the future.
Every psyche is different in the many roles played by helping healers who suited up to sustain the COVID-19 patients. Science tells us women are twice as likely to suffer PTSD symptoms.
This pandemic is something different. The onslaught of stress can change brain wiring for the worse — at the level to create PTSD. Later, some may seek to stay away from the situations that remind them of the traumatic events.
Some caregivers may not be able to adaptively overcome the stress and adversity while maintaining normal psychological and physical functioning.
The potential for PTSD is when an individual is placed in a situation where they do not have all the needed equipment, weaponry, support by colleagues in numbers needed, or proper support from superiors. This is also fueled when they feel they do not have the proper protective material and are forced to go in harm’s way relentlessly when they fear for their own survival. On April 3, Oklahoma showed 10.6 percent of its confirmed cases were health care workers.
Situationally produced and yet self-imposed is the stress of sleeping in their cars in their hospital parking lot because they do not want to bring potential illness and death home to their families. This can result in the development of PTSD, depression and other psychiatric disorders.
In a medical scenario where our heroes ran toward the danger and healing is supposed to take place that sounds extremely abrupt. But in many of our hospitals that were overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients presenting repeated unmanageable stressors, that is exactly what was happening.
Often nurses and doctors in COVID-19 hotspots made life and death choices, deciding who was to live and who was to die because of a limited number of ventilators and limited ability to intubate. And there was the randomness of patients dying right in front of them as these patients first entered the hospital.
We must be honest. Nurses and doctors are human and cannot escape that negative impact. People who signed up to work around the sick also take great pride in learning all the ways to be healers.
To suddenly be immersed in the onslaught of hourly and daily negative scenario can have a permanently deleterious effect on the human psyche. It remains to be seen if overwhelming the individual at a high morbidity level has a lasting effect. We know brainwave activity that negativity establishes can create specific pathways in the brain that were not there before.
How do we know what effect this has on these brave people’s body and spirit when these pathways are never compensated for? These individuals may have anxiety and depression from these days forward.
The wild card in all of this are brave medical health professionals who contracted COVID-19 themselves, while trying their best to help others. Hundreds have died around the world. Yes, they signed up for this profession, but not to suffer the same as their patients.
Another stressor is some hospitals, such as the University of Oklahoma Medical Center, are cutting pay and hours because of the strict emphasis on COVID-19 leaving them cash poor.
“A grateful nation will likely create a fund offering therapy and treatment for front line medical professionals who have health problems traceable to saving lives similar to the federal World Trade Center Health Program,” Oklahoman Kara De La Pena, APRN, said. “Considering for many of us who took on preventable risks, the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 will be held up as a model for providing us medical treatment. That program is funded through 2090 now.”
The seniors saved and whole world thank our heroes and seek restorative insight into the medical outcomes thrust upon the healers who fight to keep people alive.

by Nick Thomas

While most of us will be remembering mothers on May 10 this year, entertainers who worked as child actors in television sitcoms may also have special memories of their ‘TV mom.’ For Paul Petersen, that was Oscar winner Donna Reed, matriarch from “The Donna Reed Show.”

“It’s kind of an archival look back at an iconic television show,” said Petersen who, like Reed, appeared in all 275 episodes during the series run from 1958 to 1966. “I wanted the book to not only examine the people who made the show, but to put television in the historical context of the period. During the 8 years, we went through a lot including illnesses, accidents, and national incidents from that era.”
One of the most memorable was the 1963 Kennedy assassination.
“We were rehearsing and a guy from the radio station across the street called with a real quiver in his voice asking for Donna,” said Petersen who remembers answering the phone. “Donna then told us the president had been shot and it shut down the studio. We just packed up and went home for a very painful weekend.”
Most of Petersen’s memories of the show are far more pleasant, however, like the first day filming on the set.
“Donna was from a little town in Iowa called Denison, in the county right next to where my mother was born around the same year,” he explained. “When I got the job, the most excited person in my family was my grandfather who insisted on taking me to work to film the pilot. He marched right up to Donna and said, ‘Donna Belle Mullenger (her birth name) I knew your dad!’”
Reed was gracious, and remained personable and well-liked throughout the series, according to Petersen. “We all got together for lunch and were very close – uniquely close compared to other television families.”
A potentially tragic incident occurred when Paul crashed his Pontiac Grand Prix during the series. But Donna came to his rescue.
“The accident was my fault and for punishment I had to ride a bicycle 8 miles to work every day. But Donna and Tony (her husband) felt sorry for me and gave me a brand-new Volkswagen Bug. I loved that car!”
During the show’s run, Petersen obviously called Reed ‘mom’ while filming, but it was always ‘Miss Reed’ away from the set.
“It wasn’t until four years after the show ended when I was in my mid-20s and we were at Chasen’s restaurant that I remember her learning across the table and saying, ‘Paul, I think it’s time you started calling me Donna!’”
Having a close ‘second mom,’ especially a famous one, could have created friction between Petersen’s real mother and the actress.
“I remember in an interview my mother said, ‘how could I ever compete with Donna Reed?’ But she understood I had an ongoing professional relationship with Donna that sometimes required spending more time with her than my actual mother.”
“Donna was my de facto mother and guardian on the set, a pretty safe person to leave your kids with,” added Petersen. “She was an Iowa bred farm girl, the oldest of five children, who had lived through the depression and came out to California to be a Hollywood star and succeeded. She was a wonderful role model.”
In 2018 for the anniversary of the show’s first broadcast, Petersen (and coauthor Deborah Herman) released “The Donna Reed Show: A Pictorial Memoir” (see www.micropublishingmedia.com).

Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery and has written features, columns, and interviews for over 800 newspapers and magazines. See getnickt.org.

Talk about on the job training, Hailee Stull became a registered nurse less than a year ago. Now, she finds herself working on the frontlines of a worldwide pandemic.
“I never imagined something like this would happen in my lifetime, much less my first year on the job.”
Stull works in the Emergency Department at INTEGRIS Southwest Medical Center. She says it has been amazing to watch her team rise to the challenge. “Policies and procedures for the COVID-19 situation have been frequently changing since the beginning of the outbreak. We’re dealing with changes sometimes from shift to shift and doing our best to keep up and stay informed.”
She adds, “I’ve watched my coworkers adapt and thrive with every change thrown our way. It has been fascinating to watch and experience the creativity, teamwork and generosity on full display.”
Stull says patients and visitors have been impacted by the ever-changing environment as well. “They’ve had to deal with visitor restrictions, symptom screenings at every entrance and waiting in their cars to be seen. This crisis has proven to me just how resilient we all can be.”
But she admits caring for coronavirus patients on top of other emergencies can be a juggling act. “My role as an ER nurse is to not only care for COVID-19 patients, but to also care for other emergent patients. People are still breaking bones and having strokes. Those things don’t stop just because of a virus.”
Stull’s sense of duty helps her push past the fear. “Dealing with the unknown is always scary. I have seen what this virus has the capability to do to people. It is frightening to put myself in direct contact with this virus,” she reveals.
However, as a nurse this isn’t the only frightening disease I am in contact with. I do the best I can to protect myself while caring for my patients.”
Stull says she has always wanted to be a nurse and nothing, not even a pandemic, can change that. “I have always been a caregiver at heart and always will be – long after this pandemic is a thing of the past.”

Stride Bank has managed to secure over 400 SBA PPP loans and saved an estimated 6,407 jobs

The staff at Stride Bank has been working around the clock for weeks now to ensure local businesses are approved for the Small Business Administration’s Payroll Protection
Program loans. The funds may have run out for the initial phase of the program, but Stride isn’t slowing down their efforts any time soon.
As the federal government works to provide a second wave of SBA PPP funding, Stride Bank is putting in the extra effort to ensure anyone left out of phase one funding will find relief with phase two.
So far, throughout this process, Stride Bank has managed to secure over 400 SBA PPP loans, provided over $59 million in potentially forgivable funds and saved an estimated 6,407 jobs.
When asked how Stride has managed to secure so much funding and ensure the approval of so many loans, Kevin Guarnera, the leader of Stride Bank’s dedicated SBA team, responded, “We’ve been a part of our community for over 100 years. We’re not about to quit on anyone now. Local small businesses are in trouble, and they’ve been thrown a lifeline. It’s our job to make sure as many small businesses as possible secure that lifeline and find safety.”
Guarnera and his team have been sought out by others in the industry as the experts on getting these loans approved quickly and efficiently. By understanding the guidelines inside and out and working overtime to get applications processed, the team at Stride has helped numerous local businesses find that lifeline.
“When you’re a part of a community, you protect it and everyone in it. We won’t stop until this is over,” added Guarnera.
Founded in 1913, Stride Bank is an Oklahoma-based financial institution that holds over $800 million in assets.
Offering a full range of financial services such as consumer and commercial banking, mortgage, wealth management, and treasury management, we have also developed and currently manage highly specialized payment solutions for several national fintech companies. While we are unwavering in our pursuit to continue innovating and offering new financial solutions, we will always remain loyal to our community banking roots in Oklahoma. We have branches throughout Oklahoma in Enid, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Bartlesville, Blackwell, Woodward, and Mooreland. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender. Learn more at www.stridebank.com.
Debbie Blacklock is the Senior Vice President and Manager of the Stride Bank Healthcare Division. Founded in 1913, Stride Bank is a full-service, Oklahoma-owned-and-operated financial institution with offices in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Bartlesville, Enid, Woodward, Mooreland, and Blackwell. As an industry leader throughout the U.S. in real-time, next-generation payments, Stride Bank provides mobile banking and a full spectrum of Treasury Management Services. The Stride Bank Healthcare Division provides loans and other financial solutions for senior housing, long-term care, specialty hospitals, surgery centers, physicians, dentists, and other ambulatory healthcare providers. Debbie has 21 years of commercial banking experience in Oklahoma with over nine years in the healthcare space. Stride Bank, Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender.

Publisher’s Note: Upon finding out our local financial institution was not able to secure SBA loans, we were forced to look elsewhere. Because we “were not a customer of theirs,” three other banks refused to even look at our application for the PPP loan. Fortunately, we made contact with Stride Bank, who worked diligently to secure our PPP even though we were not currently a customer. This publication does not generally recommend or endorse one business over another, but Stride Bank won our respect. A special thanks to Debbie Blacklock, Senior Vice President, Manager of Healthcare Banking at Stride Bank, N.A. for her hard work. OKNT recommends Stride Bank to our Healthcare Friends. VISIT US AT: https://stridebank.com/

* As of this advisory, there are 3,280 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Oklahoma.
* There are three additional deaths; zero occurred in the past 24 hours and the others died between April 24-April 25.
* One in Tulsa County, a male in the 65 and older age group.
* One in Carter County, a female in the 50-64 age group.
* One in Wagoner County, a female in the 65 and older age group.
* There are 197 total deaths in the state.
Note: The number of total cumulative negative specimens, total cumulative number of specimens to date, and the number currently hospitalized reported below are compiled through the Executive Order reports submitted to the governor. These reports are not submitted on the weekend, and therefore, those numbers found in this report will be updated Tuesday. All other numbers listed in this report are current.
* The American Association on Health and Disability (AAHD) has created a survey to assess health care and health care access challenges people with disabilities are encountering with the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey is open until May 1 and can be found here.
* A list of COVID-19 testing sites in the state can be found here.
* For more information, visit coronavirus.health.ok.gov.

*The total includes laboratory information provided to OSDH at the time of the report. Total counts may not reflect unique individuals.
**This number is a combination of hospitalized positive cases and hospitalized persons under investigation, as reported by hospitals at the time of the report. The data reflect a change in calculation and should not be compared to prior data.

OU Medicine and its academic partner, the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, recently received $100,000 from CompSource Mutual Insurance Company to assist healthcare providers on the front line of treating patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To avoid potentially exposing their families to the virus, many healthcare providers are not going home at the end of a long workday, but are staying away from home for everyone’s safety. The donation from CompSource Mutual will be used to provide meals and a place to stay for those physicians, nurses and other healthcare providers.
“We’re grateful to CompSource Mutual for their generous support of our healthcare team to combat this pandemic,” said Dr. Dale Bratzler, Enterprise Chief Quality Officer of OU Medicine. “This donation will fund temporary housing and food for OU Medicine and OU Health Sciences Center team members living away from home to protect their families from potential exposure to COVID-19.”
CompSource Mutual Insurance Company, an Oklahoma-based business that provides workers’ compensation coverage, donated a total of $250,000 in Oklahoma to assist medical personnel and families coping with lost wages and other hardships because of the pandemic. Other recipients include the Tulsa Area COVID-19 Response Fund formed by the Tulsa Area United Way and the Tulsa Community Foundation, as well as the United Way of Central Oklahoma’s COVID-19 Response Fund.
“Our policyholders include many Oklahoma businesses that are currently experiencing the emotional, physical and financial tolls of this pandemic,” said CompSource Mutual President and CEO Jason Clark. “We are committed to being a reliable partner in our communities’ responses, which we first demonstrated earlier this month by implementing measures to help CompSource policyholders who are struggling financially to pay their premiums. This donation is the next step and supports our guiding principle to improve the communities in which we live and work. I am grateful to our leadership team for approving this vitally important assistance for three organizations who are working directly in support of first responders, medical professionals and affected families in our state.”

story and photo by Vickie Jenkins, Staff Writer

Growing up in Holdenville, OK in the late sixties, people considered this as golden town living; a safe place to live, small in size and friendly folks. At the tender age of twelve, Barbara McDougal was like most girls, beginning to notice those once dreaded species called boys. She began to push her childish ways to the side, knowing that she would soon be a teenager. Barbara took notice of a certain boy that had just moved to the neighborhood, only one block away from her. She peeked out the window each time he walked by her house as he adventured out, exploring the mighty streets in the neighborhood.
As Barbara and her girlfriends gathered, Barbara found herself secretly pointing this boy out, telling them how cute he was, along with a firm statement of, “Someday, that boy is going to be mine.”
It wasn’t long before Barbara became more interested in this new boy in town. She would casually be sitting on the front porch at the most convenient planned out times. It wasn’t long before this boy walked by her house, stopping to introduce himself. It was just like one of those love stories on the big screen; the two of them stood there, gazing into each other’s eyes, as though a light suddenly came on. They knew the love bug had gotten to both of them. They had been love-struck!
His name was Bobby Aldridge and he was sixteen-year- old. He drove around town in his blue ‘57 Chevy and Barbara remembers the car being far out! After a few visits between the families and getting to know each other a little better, Barbara was allowed to meet Bobby for lunch at the local Dairy Queen. They spent their time holding hands as they listened to the juke box play some of their favorite music; Donavan’s Hurdy Gurdy Man and Tommy James and the Shondells. Soon, the relationship between the two of them progressed and they were inseparable!
In this time and age, when a boy liked a girl, he gave her a token of his love by giving her a drop, a necklace with the boy’s initials on it; Bobby’s initials being RLA. Now, they were going steady! The relationship between Barbara and Bobby was going perfect!
It was in 1970, that Barbara got the news that Bobby and his family were moving from Holdenville, to Oklahoma City, OK. No, this couldn’t happen! Both families hated to see the sweet couple separate but it had to be. Bobby’s dad had taken on a new job in Oklahoma City, OK. After the move, frequent visits were made by Barbara as her parents would drive to OKC, allowing Barbara to spend as much time as possible with Bobby. Little did they know that their relationship would be coming to an end in the near future.
Life brings changes when we least expect it and our paths take off in different directions.
Barbara graduated in 1974 and attended Oklahoma State University. This was a whole new world for her; college, new friends and discoveries of being an adult. Barbara became an LPN in 1978, working in Stillwater, OKC and even moved to Dallas, Texas for a while. Barbara realized that she needed to go back to school for her RN. She moved back to OKC in 2007 to begin RN school at OSU/OKC.
Time moves on. Barbara had just finished one of her classes and decided to go a near-by restaurant for lunch. As she sat at a booth, she noticed a gentleman sitting at a booth, across the room, not far from her. Taking a second look, he looked very familiar. Was it Bobby? With a feeling of nervousness and a little flushed, she got up and walked over to him. Yes, it was Bobby! They enjoyed talking to each other and reminisced about old times. Their love story picked up where they left off.
Barbara and Bobby were married on October 7, 2017. Barbara wore his initials, RLA as a charm on her charm bracelet in their wedding. This was the something old for her wedding.
Now, it’s the year 2020. Bobby is a homebuilder in OKC and Barbara is an RN at Mercy Rehab Hospital. Today, they still hold hands as they listen to some of their favorite music; Donavan’s Hurdy Gurdy Man and Tommy James and the Shondells.
From first love to last love, fifty-one years later and the love is still growing.