Ted Richardson, 93, met the love of his life when he was just 16 years old. He recalls returning home and informing his father that he had seen the girl he desired to marry.
Ted may have seen their future wedding, but he couldn’t have predicted the wonderful romance and decades-long devotion that was ahead of them. Theirs is a timeless love story.
Ted served his duty as a marine during WWII, and while he was abroad, he kept a portrait of a girl called Florence near by. He kept looking at it, adding, she was stunning. He didn’t mind constantly staring at her.
When the veteran’s duty finished, he wasted no time in marrying the girl of his dreams, kicking off a lifetime of love and joy. Ted was a teacher, and his wife worked for the FBI.
They had a kid, Ted Jr., and everything was beautiful. Florence was tender-hearted during their 72-year marriage, only losing her anger with Ted once.
Ted was in awe of his wife’s devotion to their marriage and family, treasuring her whenever he could until her death in 2013. He lost his best friend when she died, and he immediately formed a routine that enabled him to keep remembering her.
Ted went to his wife’s gravesite in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific six days a week, rain or shine. He took three buses from his Waikiki home, and he was generally the first individual there at 6:30 a.m., anxious to get in.
The widower spent the majority of his time caring to Florence’s grave, trimming the grass and setting new flowers in front of the headstone that said,”Wife of CPL Ted Richardson USMC. Beloved American Mother.”
He frequently brought multicolored flowers for his wife since they began as small blooms and blossomed slowly over two or three days. Every day, the security guards at the cemetery drove Ted up the hill to his wife’s gravestone.
Ted referred to the act of service as “payback time.” He saw it as his way of repaying his adoring wife’s devotion and care to him during their marriage.
Ted remembered precisely how many times he had visited his wife’s cemetery from her death until 2018 because to his meticulous record keeping—the figure is astounding. He’d visited her cemetery 1,300 times!
The widower even made preparations for the future, requesting that his church deliver flowers to Florence’s grave once a month. But, as long as he could, he had no intention of ending his regular visits, sharing that he’s going to keep going as long as he can. When he’ve had enough, God will tell him.
Ted’s dedication to his late wife was recognized by the internet community. Many individuals expressed their wish to have a relationship as wonderful as theirs, while others praised the nice and compassionate veteran.
Ted is a one-of-a-kind individual. His acts exemplified the type of selfless and eternal love that everybody desires and deserves. We salute him and applaud his respectful method of honouring the woman who meant the most to him.
