The Church was full that September afternoon 1941. The sound of the sermon floated in the air, but Hubert Malicote, 19, barely paid attention. His eyes wandered around the temple until they stopped in a young woman with dark hair, sitting a few rows. In a moment, she turned her head and smiled at her. It was just an instant, but enough to change his life.
According to Peopleafter the service, as usual, the young Americans walked to the ice cream shop. Hubert managed to stay close to her, listen to her laugh, find any excuse to extend the conversation. There were no cars waiting for them outside, there was no hurry. They said goodbye without promises, but he had already decided to return the next Sunday. “If she hadn’t smiled at me in the church, I wonder how my life would have been”, Would remember Hubert many years later in an interview with The Washington Post.
The weeks passed with the silent expectation of the first loves. They sat together, they looked with their eyes. His first official event was at the County Fair, between flashing lights and the smell of sugar cotton. When Hubert accompanied her home that night, her heart was beating hard. She felt awkward, inexperienced, but she was there, with her red dress, looking at him sweetly. He leaned down and kissed her. And then, without knowing how to react, he ran.
For a whole week, he wondered if she would think she was an idiot. When he saw her again in the church, she simply smiled at her. There were no reproaches. There was no grudge.
A year later, the world was at war and Hubert decided to enlist in the Navy. It was November 1942 when he left for his training in Illinois. Meanwhile, June worked in a machinery factory in Ohio, assembling supplies for the army. They could not be seen, just writing letters that took weeks to arrive. It was in one of those letters when they made a decision: They would marry before he definitively left.
Marriage had no great preparations. They traveled to Indiana to take the mandatory blood test and, the next day, they returned to their church to marry. June wore a borrowed dress and made her own bouquet with the roses of the temple porch. Hubert, dressed in his uniform, looked at her with the certainty that, regardless of what happened, he would always return to her.
And then the separation. Hubert was sent to Pearl Harbor, where he worked on the maintenance of torpedoes and submarines. They could not speak on the phone or send telegrams that revealed their location. But he found a way to let him know where he was. He sent a package with a Hawaiian lawn skirt. Weeks later, he was back a photo of June using it. Smiled. His message had arrived.
The war ended in 1945. According to Washigton Postthe train that took him back home reduced the speed at the Anderson station, Indiana. There were no crowds on the platform, no banners, just a woman. June, dressed in her best clothes, walking next to the tracks. The train driver looked at him and said: “That girl is waiting for you. “ Hubert went down. She was there. As usual.
They built their home on a five -acre ranch in Hamilton, Ohio. They had three children: Jo, Sam and Theresa. Hubert worked in a safety factory until his retirement in 1990; June directed the choir in the church. They raised chickens, cultivated their own vegetables, lived a simple and quiet life.
The secret of his love was simple. “We have never had a single fight “said Hubert in an interview with the WLWT channel. “If there is disagreement, we have a few minutes and then return and solve it” Every night, without exception, they kissed before bedtime. Every morning, when they woke up, they smiled when they saw each other.
In 2022, They both fulfilled 100 years. To celebrate it, the church where they met organized a great party with 130 guests. They ate cake, surrounded by children, grandchildren and great -grandchildren. “We simply live the day to day, and suddenly we realized that we were 100 years old ”said Hubert in an interview with Fox News Digital.
But time does not forgive. June began to weaken after suffering several stroke. In November 2022, shortly after thanksgiving, his body no longer resisted. It was admitted to a hospice.
When Hubert saw his wife left, something inside him broke. The man who had built his home with his own hands, who had patiently waited for the end of the war to meet her, simply could not conceive life without June. In the hospital room, June’s breathing was mild, just a whisper. Hubert stayed by his side, holding his hand.
“He collapsed,” said his son Sam in an interview with The Dayton Daily News. “He died of a broken heart.”
Twenty hours Then, on December 1, June followed. They left together, as they had always been.
