I was stunned and only after sitting to grasp this reality… that 40+ years of a dream had the potential to be reality.

Sid and Sharon are members of the Alzheimer’s Resource of Alaska choral group, Voices of the Last Frontier. We recently had an opportunity to hear their story and are so thankful to them for sharing it:

Sid:  “We both grew up in Washington State. Sharon and I met in 1959 at a summer high school music camp at WSU. Soon after the camp was over, I took the Greyhound bus 100 miles to her house for a date. We got to be better and closer friends for about 6 months and went to each other’s homecoming dances.

“After I graduated high school, I joined the Army, taking Sharon’s picture to Korea with me even though we had ‘broken-up’ earlier that year.

“Forty-seven years later, with neither of us knowing where the other was, I learned Sharon was in politics in Alaska. Upon finding she was in the Legislature, I found she wrote in her bio about having beaten cancer….I had to reach out to Sharon to just see how she was doing.”

Sharon: “At the beginning, and continuing through to this minute, our shared love of music, singing, learning, friendships and a sense of humor…after all those intervening years, we never forgot about the other.

“That telephone call that did bring us back together was from out of the blue. The phone in Juneau rang. It was answered and I was given the name of the caller, and I said, “Sid Who?!”, I couldn’t immediately take the call. I was stunned and only after sitting to grasp this reality, to collect this reality, that 40+ years of a dream had the potential to be reality.

“That telephone call began a several-year courtship, including a car ride sprinkled with the songs we had learned at the music camp decades before. We both had lived full lives, had been widowed and each with children we loved.  Each delighted in the other’s sense of humor….after all those intervening years, we never forgot each other.

“Sid joined me…singing at our Church, then he immediately started classes at UAA, and gained his BA (recently), and now we are both alumni of our neighboring University.

“We have been married since 2007. We have been in the Senior Center Choir and are now very happy to be in Voices of the Last Frontier Chorus/support group.

“Together we age. We each are following health issues our previous family members experienced.  I am the partner that is demonstrating loss of memory…Aging brings with it those experiences, but also (along with it) our education, habits, medical help and BEST of all…friends and singing!”