DAYTON — This love story goes back almost six decades, but you will hear it through the eyes of three 20-year-old University of Dayton students.
On campus, three Sophomores hoped their dorm would look to the west so that they could see sunsets. And every day what they saw out their window, past the dumpster was more beautiful than they could have imagined.
Up the hill, from the middle of campus, the Virginia W. Kettering Dorm is home to approximately 600 students.
In room 216, Audrey, Ella, and Audrianna openly admit, “We were kind of freaked out about it at first. But, actually turned out to be a good thing,”
It was a mid to late September afternoon and when they went to their window, they saw a man sitting outside where a funeral had taken place.
The next day and the day after that, they saw the same thing. “We’re like ‘Oh my gosh, he’s visiting his wife or something,’ That’s so sweet,” The girls said.
Audrey, Ella, and Audrianna watched this go on for five months. “It could be raining. It could be freezing, it could be scorching hot, and he was out there sitting with his wife,” Ella said.
The love they witnessed from afar was “making a difference.” More so, than any textbook they used all year.
The girls decided to write him a note. “We are a group of college roommates who watch you from our room every day,” wrote Audrey.
Ella wrote, “We only hope that one day we will find the love as strong and beautiful that you have for your wife,”
“Hope your heart is healing and you know your love has impacted so many people,” wrote Audrianna. Audrey and Ella built up the courage to go to the cemetery.
Ella said, “We said ‘Hello. We brought these flowers for you, and we wrote you a note. We just wanted you to have it.’ And he was so shocked.”
The man goes by the name of Pete.
“I had just gotten home, and I looked out my window to find him. And, then I saw them out there. They were giving him the note – that was so awesome, I just sat and stared,” Audrianna said. She was overcome with emotion.
She continued by saying, “I was sitting there, tearing up a little while I was sitting at the foot of my bed.”
Standing alongside the grave, Ella said it was emotional. There were tears as he shared his love for his wife. “He was so grateful,” Ella said.
“I didn’t want to leave because I felt bad because he was telling us all these cute stories. You could tell, at that moment, he just needed to have someone to talk to,” Audrey said.
Ella and Audrey know the pain of losing someone. Ella said she lost her brother three years ago, and Audrey lost her father more recently.
“If someone had done that for me, it would have made so much of a difference during a time like that, you can feel so alone,” Ella said.
Mary’s been gone almost 400 days, and he has visited her every day since.
“Every time we would see him, we would talk about how beautiful that he had something that was so good that he still wants to spend all this time with her,” Audrianna said.
They were married for almost 60 years.
“This experience taught me more about love a little bit. It really strengthens my faith that he had someone he loved for so long,” Audrianna said.
Pete’s love for Mary is stronger than ever.
“I kept things I want to love someone as much as Pete loves his wife. And I thought it was really beautiful,” Audrianna said.
Facing the heartache of losing his soulmate, this love story touched three college roommates’ hearts and souls and made a difference in their lives.
For three months, News Center 7′s James Brown asked Pete if he would share his side of this story on camera, but he politely declined.
However, he has shared the students’ note with dozens of people he’s come across at the cemetery.
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