Transcript for the Piece Audio version of StoryCorps: Walter and Babette Sonneborn

WS: The evening that I met her she had “Babbs” written on her sweater, which is nice for me. I can’t remember names. Every evening we watched the sunset. And when I said, "Look at the shape of that sun," my wife says, ‘It’s so nice and round.’ And the sun was split in half by a cloud. So after that I insisted on her wearing her glasses.

BS: We certainly were very fond of each other. And we were together all the time. It was a perfectly wonderful summer.

WS: Let me tell you a few of the juicier things. Babbs and I would hold hands. And Babbs' friend always says, "Has he kissed you yet?" I was kind of slow. And Babbs' brother would sing, "Walter, Walter lead me to the altar." And Babbs was very embarrassed.

BS: You know, it was so different in those days.

WS: Every night we’d walk to the village and have an ice cream sundae. And this one day I stopped and held her hand. I said, "Would you marry me?"

BS: We thought we were secretly engaged. But all the guests in the hotel said, "We wish you lots of luck."

WS: Well we’ve been married sixty-seven years.

BS: Yeah.

WS: And the main happiness we have is our love for each other.