After 60 Years, Marriage Proposal Love Letter Finally Gets Delivered

By Katherine Cooney, TIME

Credit: TIME

Dick Hauck is seen reading the letter he wrote to his beloved 60 years ago.

April 4, 2012 Updated Apr 4, 2012 at 12:02 PM PDT

In 1952, Dick Hauck signed, stamped and sent off a letter to his sweetheart, Arlene, asking for her hand in marriage. Sixty years later, that love letter has finally been delivered.

The Missouri couple, married since Dick returned home from the service in 1952, was surprised to receive the letter from contract workers who were renovating Arlene’s childhood home.

“The whole thing brings back memories,” Dick told an area news station. The couple wrote to each other nearly every day while Dick, then 21, was in the army.

Arlene had saved an entire box of his letters, but never received his most important one. The writing is emotional and sensitive, revealing the deep-seated love that has kept the couple together for the past 60 years.

“I got your ring today, I sure hope you will like it. I wish I could have gotten it long ago darling,” Dick reads, holding in his tears. He sent the ring shortly after the letter was sent in March. Dick and Arlene married the following June.

To see the touching video, CLICK HERE.

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