Harlan and Bernice: The Bowling Pin

One day at StoryPoint Rockford, a resident began describing his love affair soon after his wife’s death. The story went a little like this:

A long time ago, Bernice met a dashing man named Harlan. The two met while working at a bank together and hit it off. At the time that they met, they were both a part of a work bowling league that met one night a week. Harlan was very interested in Bernice, although she was dating another man at the time. One night after bowling Harlan invited Bernice to lunch the following day. While the two were at lunch, Harlan expressed his feelings and told Bernice that he was going to marry her one day. She went along with it and broke up with her current boyfriend soon after. When Bernice finally linked up with her loving Harlan, they each had children from previous marriages, coming together like The Brady Bunch.



After dating for just one year, they got married, and Harlan bought a house for $70,000 for their family. They ended up being married for 40 blissful years and continued to bowl throughout their marriage. When it came time for them to move into a retirement community, Harlan was able to sell the house he bought for $500,000. The loving pair moved into StoryPoint and told anyone who would listen to their love story. Eventually, Bernice fell ill and was put on hospice. During this time, the StoryPoint team decided to surprise her with something special. They coordinated with a local bowling alley to get a bowling pin. The entire staff signed the bowling pin. They presented both Bernice and Harlan the autographed bowling pin before she passed away. She was overcome by immense gratitude.

As we said before, Harlan told this entire story to an employee at StoryPoint. At the end of his story, he stated “I’d give up everything to have her here still. Money is worth nothing. Living and having good health is everything.” As he spoke these words, he began crying.