Davy Moakes and Helen Andre’s young romance was brought to a halt by their parents 65 years ago. The young lovers, who met in art school, never got a chance to walk down the aisle in 1951, when Andre was told by her parents to end the relationship because they didn’t approve of Moakes being an artist.
“It broke both their hearts but in those days you did as you were told,” Andre’s daughter, Debbie Williams. told the BBC.
However, 65 years later, the star-crossed lovers finally got their happy ending when they exchanged the vows they couldn’t say all those years ago.
After Andre became a widow for the third time, her daughter tracked down Moakes in Derbyshire, England. The two got to know one another again and to catch up on the missed years ― Moakes also was widowed and both are now grandparents.
Despite all the time that’s gone by, their affection for one another never really seemed to have subsided.
“If you love someone as much as we do, it never goes away,” Moakes, 86, said.
Williams said the couple fell “madly in love” all over again and on Friday finally became man and wife.
“I’ve loved him all my life,” Andre said. “We’re together at last.”
The couple are currently on their honeymoon in Cyprus, The Sun reports.
Here’s wishing Helen and Davy a lifetime of happiness ahead.
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Collect picture from Helen Andre and Davy Moakes' wedding day. A couple who were forced to call off their engagement because the bride's parents did not approve of the groom have finally tied the knot - 65 years later. Davy Moakes, 86, and Helen Andre, 82, met and fell in love at Chesterfield Art College, Derbs., and Davy asked for Helen's hand in marriage in 1951. But Helen's parents, Aaron and Gertrude West, did not want their daughter to marry an artist and they called the wedding off two years later. Davy's father, Edward, conspired to make the lovers meet at a wealthy landowner's dance in 1956 where the sweethearts vowed to "make it work".
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Collect picture of Davy Moakes around the time he first met Helen Andre.
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Collect picture of Helen Andre (left) roller skating around the time she met Davy Moakes.
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Collect picture of Helen Andre (left) in a sports car which was paid for by Davy Moakes's father to meet Davy at a ball in 1953.
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Collect picture of Helen's parents, Gertrude and Aaron West about the time of the family feud. See News Team story NTIWED: A couple who were forced to call off their engagement because the bride's parents did not approve of the groom have finally tied the knot - 65 years later. Davy Moakes, 86, and Helen Andre, 82, met and fell in love at Chesterfield Art College, Derbs., and Davy asked for Helen's hand in marriage in 1951. But Helen's parents, Aaron and Gertrude West, did not want their daughter to marry an artist and they called the wedding off two years later. Davy's father, Edward, conspired to make the lovers meet at a wealthy landowner's dance in 1956 where the sweethearts vowed to "make it work".
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Collect picture of Helen Andre's first wedding to Tony (Maurice) Rollings who passed away at the age of 62 with cancer.
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Collect picture of Helen Andre's third wedding to Dennis who passed away in 2010 also with cancer.
