Henderson duos share their secrets to long-lasting love
Decades after they went their separate ways, life led three Henderson couples to reunite following various twists and turns.
FINDING LOVE AGAIN
Mary VonLinsowe, 87, and Roy F. Thomas, 104, found love again after their spouses died in 1999.
Mary and Roy had been living at Capistrano Pines, 400 N. Major Ave., where they began getting to know each other because they had something in common: Their spouses had been residing at nursing homes up until their deaths. So Mary and Roy kept in contact to compare notes.
Their friendship ultimately blossomed into a courtship, despite the fact that Roy had moved in 2000 to the Horizon Pines Senior Apartments complex, 2570 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway. Still, Mary followed suit in 2007.
"Through that time, he kept calling me, taking me out on dates," she said. "He said, 'Do you want to go here; do you want to go there?' And I said, 'Oh, yeah.' Our first date was IHOP (at 1230 W. Warm Springs Road) for breakfast. Then one day, he just leaned over and kissed me."
The two maintain separate apartments at Horizon Pines but see each other daily.
"I make breakfast for Roy at 9:30 a.m.," Mary said. "Then I clean up and check his apartment. I do his laundry. Then he comes over at 4 p.m. for dinner. He never complains about what I fix him."
They enjoy a glass of wine together every night while watching TV. Every Sunday, they head to St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, 2300 Sunridge Heights Parkway, about a mile away. Mary travels on foot, and Roy follows on a scooter.
"So we're looking for a scooter for Mary so she doesn't have to walk," Roy said.
Roy said he pursued a relationship with Mary because they share some interests, and he loves her personality.
"She's got a smile on her face most of the time, and she's No. 1 in my book," Roy added.
Mary said she had her own reasons for wanting to be with Roy.
"I like his attitude, and he loves people, and everybody around here loves him," she said. "He's just one in a million."
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SWEETHEARTS
Fifth Street Elementary School turned out to be a spot that spurred romance for Henderson residents Unette and Richard King.
The two attended the kindergarten through sixth-grade school, now known as the Historic Fifth Street School, 401 S. Fourth St., Suite 145, as children in the 1940s and started dating early on.
"She was my third-grade girlfriend," Richard said. "I gave her a flower, gave her chocolate and took her to the movies. We only lived two blocks away from each other, and the movie house was walking distance."
But the relationship was short-lived. Due to family reasons, Unette moved to Oregon in 1945 to attend fifth grade, returned to the Las Vegas Valley to attend sixth grade and went back to Oregon for seventh grade. Meanwhile, she and Richard drifted apart, despite the fact that they both attended Las Vegas High School, 6500 E. Sahara Ave.
Unette returned to Las Vegas in 1947 and then got married in the early 1950s, spending 54 years with her husband, who died in 2005. Richard had been married and divorced several times over those years.
Both ultimately ran into each other in 2008 at a class reunion for Las Vegas High School at Sam's Town, 5111 Boulder Highway. Both were single. Unette was living in the Centennial Hills area at the time, and Richard lived in the Henderson area.
"He was talking to a classmate next to me, and I thought I recognized the voice," Unette said. "He was standing behind me, so I couldn't see him. Then I went over to talk to him. He got me one of the corsages. When we left, I said, 'I guess I'll see you next year,' meaning at the next reunion."
The 81-year-olds bumped into each other once more the following day when the Historic Fifth Street School was being inaugurated following its renovation to serve as a cultural facility. Richard called Unette the day after the event and asked her out.
"We went to Applebee's for lunch," Unette said.
"And the rest is history," Richard said.
Unette moved into Richard's Henderson home that year after they got married.
CUPID'S HELPERS
If it weren't for Kathy and Philip Grippaldi's parents, they may not have been reunited.
The two Henderson residents grew up in the same neighborhood in Newark, N.J., where they dated for about four years beginning in 1957 when they were in their teens. Then Philip joined the Navy, and the two ultimately drifted apart.
"Our families were friends," Kathy said. "I went to high school with his (Philip's) sister and met him through a friend, and we went to the senior prom."
Each got married to other spouses in 1961 and had children, but their parents kept in contact and were always up on the latest news regarding Kathy and Philip, including their whereabouts.
Philip ultimately moved to the Las Vegas area due to his job with Federal Express. Meanwhile, Kathy had moved to Chicago after she got married, spent 17 years there, and in 1987, her husband died.
That's when she decided to pay Philip a visit in Las Vegas after her mother tipped her off to his address there. He also had gotten divorced the same year Kathy's husband died. But when Kathy got there for her visit, it was too late: Philip had moved back to New Jersey due to a job transfer.
In 1988, Kathy decided to write him a letter, saying she was planning to visit her parents in New Jersey over the Memorial Day weekend, and the family wanted him to stop by. Philip said he was taken aback when he received Kathy's letter.
"Oh, God, it was a big, four- or five-page letter," he said. "I was like, 'What? What's going on here?' She told me she's a widow now, and I was very sorry to hear that."
He decided to visit her family for the Memorial Day gathering, and the two began growing close again.
"I went back to Chicago, and we talked on the phone every night," Kathy said.
The two ultimately relocated to Las Vegas and got married in July in 1989.
"We felt that somebody upstairs is looking down," Kathy said. "It was meant to be."
— To reach Henderson View reporter Cassandra Keenan, email ckeenan@viewnews.com or call 702-383-0278. Find her on Twitter: @CassandraKNews.
