Childhood sweethearts share their lockdown love story
Childhood sweethearts who reunited after 36 years apart have shared their ‘lockdown love story’.
Linda Carmel and Kurt Ellmer from Horsham went on their first date aged 14 and 15 while at school together.
Kurt, now 53, said he remembers every moment of their first date, but their romance was stopped in its tracks when Linda’s foster family said she could no longer see him.
He said: “I was struggling at school at the time.
“I saw Linda and I really liked her. It was love at first sight.
“I asked her out – she said yes. She was the only thing worth going to school for.
“The date was so much of an impact on my life. I didn’t know that Linda had been told by her foster family she couldn’t see me any more.” But more than three decades later Kurt saw a picture of Linda, 52, on a school reunion group and sent her a message. He said: “She was always in the back of my mind all the time. I always used to search her name up. “A few years ago some ex pupils – put up a reunion site. “Every couple of months or so I would always pop on there just to see if I could see if Linda had gone on there. “One day I just went on there and there was a photograph of her. “I was like ‘oh my god I can’t believe it’.” Linda, a former nurse who is not currently working due to her mental health, said she didn’t know what to expect when she saw Kurt again in 2019 after more than 30 years apart.
She added: “I was expecting the blue eyes. Obviously the hair colour changes. It was quite an eye opener.
“We have just had our first anniversary of living together. It’s just amazing.”
The couple moved in together in September 2019, just a few months before the country was ordered to stay at home by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Kurt said: “It was just like coming home. Here’s someone that cares for me and wants to be with me.”
Linda said the loved up pair haven’t left Sussex since December 2019 because of the pandemic.
But when restrictions ease, the couple hope to convert a lifeboat into a floating home and sail around Europe.
They even hope to one day embark on a voyage to New Zealand.
Linda said: “We’re like teenagers. We’re making up for lost time.”