One letter started a romance that has lasted almost 50 years

Kevin and Cynthia’s love story started with a letter.

In 1965, Kevin lived in Kent, England, where he worked as a solider for the British Army. Cynthia was training to become a nurse in a small parish not far from Kevin’s military base.
Just before Kevin left for a year-long placement in the Middle East, he and his soldier buddies attended a holiday party. Cynthia was there, but her and Kevin never spoke.

Three months after the party, Kevin was stationed in Aden, Yemen, where an accident landed him in a local medical centre. While there, Kevin came across a photo with the name “Cynthia” scrawled across the back. The name on the back of the photo triggered his memory of the shy, beautiful woman he saw at the holiday party and he decided to write her.

Over the next nine months, Kevin and Cynthia wrote hundreds of letters to each other, learning they were both originally from the West Indies and shared the same opinions on philosophy and family.

A year after he first left England, Kevin officially met Cynthia in person. Dressed in a sleeveless, royal blue dress, she looked as stunning as he remembered. Cynthia and Kevin dated for just over a year before getting engaged and then married in London, England. In 1975, with two young daughters, they moved to Canada to be closer to Cynthia’s family. They’ve lived in Toronto ever since.

As for who wrote “Cynthia” on the back of that photo, sparking their love story? They still don’t know nearly 50 years later—call it fate.

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Kevin and Cynthia today

Check out part two of this series, Tony & Brigitte.