Love conquers all heights

By JOHN HOWELL
Posted 2/19/19

By JOHN HOWELL It was 1959 and Hank Lachance was home, on leave from MacDill Air Force Base in Florida where he was a radio intercept operator. He planned on dancing at Lincoln Park, but he needed a partner. Hank admits to being self-conscious about his

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Love conquers all heights

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It was 1959 and Hank Lachance was home, on leave from MacDill Air Force Base in Florida where he was a radio intercept operator. He planned on dancing at Lincoln Park, but he needed a partner.

Hank admits to being self-conscious about his height. He wanted a partner who was not taller than him. He didn’t know if he would find one.

Hank told the story of how he and his wife, Diane, met Thursday – Valentine’s Day – in the community room of Brookdale West Bay Assisted Living, where six couples renewed their wedding vows. He questioned the point of the ceremony, observing, “If we’ve been married for almost 59 years we didn’t have to renew them.” But then it seemed like a fun thing on Valentine’s Day and, besides, it was going to be a party.

When Hank surveyed the Lincoln Park dance hall he spotted three women standing at the edge of the floor. One was shorter than the others. He thought he might have found a partner, although it was difficult to judge her height. He approached from behind and touched her gently on the shoulder.

“I had no idea what she looked like,” he said.

Diane listens, her smile sparkling as Hank tells the story. It turns out the two were just about the same height. But that really didn’t matter by then, at least not for Diane.

Was it love at first sight?

Diane believes so. Hank is surprised to learn all these years later that he had such an effect.

He remembers that first dance and the song, “Midnight Train.”

She remembers their first date. They went out to eat, but when it came time to pay, he didn’t have his wallet. He’d forgotten it.

“I never go anywhere without money,” she says. He smiles.

It was a fast ride from then on. Hank had to report back to MacDill, but he didn’t want to be separated. That summer, when Hank was home again, he asked Diane to join him. Diane remembers. She wasn’t going to do that.

“I hadn’t known him long enough.”

Hank was on leave again in the fall of 1959. He proposed on Halloween, and they were married the following April 23.

As the Lachances told the story, Raymond and Matilda Isacco joined the table. He wore a red rose boutonniere; she held a colorful bouquet. All the couples renewing their vows were similarly distinguished. He helps her be seated.

They met at a wedding at the Biltmore in Providence. He didn’t have a date but decided to go anyway. She knew when she saw him and, as if to confirm it, she caught the bouquet.

“Well,” she confesses, “my cousin threw it to me.”

Also renewing vows were James and Gayle Farrell, Robert and Rita Gendron, Donald and Virginia Martin and Donald and Bonnie Norberg.

Brian Loynds, manager at Brookdale West Bay, spoke of the challenges each of the couples had overcome during their marriages and the lessons they have passed on. He applauded their achievement and then moved on to the official part of the ceremony.

He asked couples to hold hands and then called on the men to repeat the vows as he read them. The women followed. And, of course, when it was finished he asked them to kiss. It didn’t take any coaxing.

Even Hank, who frowns on public displays of affection – or so he said – kissed Diane.

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