Clarence Purvis and his wife, Carolyn, used to enjoy their daily lunch dates. Even though Carolyn has already gone, Clarence would still bring her memory with him so they could have lunch together.
For years, the pair would dine together at Smith’s in Reidsville, Georgia every week until Carolyn died. Restaurant owner Joyce James was there when they had a strong relationship. She told CBS News, “They were unbelievable. I mean you could tell that they adored each other.” She continued, “She’s a perfect wife if ever there was one. Ain’t nobody loved one another more than we loved one another. Everybody said that. ”
Even after his wife passed away, Clarence continued to have lunch alone at their favorite restaurant.
Every morning, the 93-year-old man would go to the cemetery and kiss his wife’s headstone. Then he would bring a picture of her to their restaurant so he could eat lunch with her.
He would talk to the picture as if it were alive: “Baby, I wish you could go home with me. I’d trade places with you.”
Clarence and Carolyn first met in 1948. They have remained close since then. When asked about his and Carolyn’s strong relationship, Clarence remarked, “Ain’t nobody loved one another more than me and my wife loved one another. I wanted what she wanted and she wanted what I wanted.”
After lunch, Clarence would return to his wife’s gravesite. He would go there at least four or five times a day until he was no longer able to drive. And when Smith’s Restaurant closed down, he discovered another restaurant where they could continue their lunches together.
Daughter Dianne Knight stated, “We tried to cook for him or take him, nope. It wasn’t nothing but the Dairy Queen.”
The couple’s love for each other is so strong that they even have a “love lamp.” This lamp is always kept on to remind him of their undying love for each other. Clarence said, “This here, that lamp ain’t never turned off, not since she came out of the hospital five months before she passed. That light was turned on and it ain’t never been turned off.”
Dianne stated, “He became world-known just to show his love for his wife, how much she meant to him.” Clarence’s son, Dale Purvis, said, “And that was the environment we grew up in all our life.” Dianne continued, “That’s what this world needs today. The kind of love that they had for one another.”
Even though we are all sad about his passing, Clarence’s children find solace in knowing that he is now in heaven with their mother and finally reunited with her.
Dale continued, “The pictures of him after momma passed, you hardly saw him smile. As opposed to when we had pictures of him before. But now he’ll be smiling all the time.”
Clarence and Carolyn’s love story went viral after a picture of Clarence taking his wife’s picture to the restaurant surfaced online, resulting in media attention. Their story is a reminder to us all that even after death, we will be loved.
