Romance Lives in Kalamazoo

by Sarah

Alma Viswat and Harold Van Heuvelen (known as Van) met as freshmen at Hope College in 1936; she played the piano and he played the violin, and while at college they played music together. After graduation they went their separate ways.

Alma took graduate courses in music at Northwestern, married a man named Herman and moved with him to Kalamazoo, Michigan where she taught piano, played the organ and lead the church choir at Second Reformed Church.

Van received a masters in music from the University of Michigan, got married and spent 39 leading the music program in the Bismarck, North Dakota school system before moving with his wife to Montana.

Over the years the two remained friendly, if distant — they exchanged Christmas cards and saw one another at college alumni functions. In 2003, after a long illness, Van’s wife passed away; Alma’s husband died in 2004. While their spouses were sick Alma and Van renewed contact. Van visited Alma in Michigan and the two rekindled their friendship.

On November 18, 2006, 87-years-old and 70 years after their first meeting, Alma and Van were married. (Full disclosure: Van is the grandfather of this love buzzer’s boyfriend, and she attended the ceremony.)

The Kalamazoo Gazette tells the couple’s story and reports that Alma and Van played a concert together on July 19 at the former governor’s mansion of North Dakota. Click through for a lovely photo of the couple and their instruments.

“Love is not only for the young,” Van told the Gazette. “Alma is a wonderful woman and a wonderful musician. I love both things about her.”

Ladies, romance lives.