By Kelsi Peace, Managing Editor
They married on the day they met.
Nearly one year later, Bob and Ruth Bogart still adore each other. He praises her for always thinking of others; she smiles as she explains how he never fails to complement her.
Clearly thrilled with one another, both say their meeting at dating Web site churchofchristsingles.com is more than a coincidence. After all, it has been more than half a century in the making- Bob and Ruth celebrated their 80th and 70th birthdays, respectively, on Aug. 27.
Their vastly different lives only making their meeting that much more astonishing – or, as Ruth says, “Coincidence? I think not.”
-His-
Bob was born in Hamby and calls Abilene home. He entered Abilene Christian College in 1945, leaving after his freshman year to join the Air Force. In the Air Force, Bob worked as a drill instructor, helicopter repairman and basic electrician. In 1951, he returned to ACC to finish with a physics degree and a minor in math and chemistry.
He worked all across the nation seismically testing for oil, and eventually would travel to destinations including India, Calcutta, Brazil, Pakistan and Sumatra.
Five years spent in Alaska found Bob near the Arctic Circle, working on a $5 million contract with countries like Venezuela, Norway and Germany.
He returned again to ACU in 1967 for teaching certification and earned a master’s degree from Tarleton State in 1975. Bob taught at Midland College and Howard College.
Bob married twice before Ruth; his first marriage lasted seven years, his second 39. Bob’s second wife died in 2002, and he moved to Abilene to be near his siblings and work at a computer consulting business, selling hardware and software.
He found himself living alone in a Christian Village apartment when he decided to register on the churchofchristsingles.com.
“I really didn’t have any purpose,” he said. “Finally, one day, I just decided to do it.”
Ruth was the first person he contacted.
-Hers-
Ruth was born in Azusa, Calif., in 1955. She married her high school sweetheart after graduating from high school and by age 21, had two children. The couple moved to the Willamette Valley in Oregon, where they would spend 27 years raising their children in the mountains. When her son was killed by a drunk driver, Ruth and her husband sought a fresh start in Oklahoma and took up the task of raising their grandson.
Ruth, who had taken business classes while in high school, worked as her husband’s secretary while he sold life insurance. Once in Oklahoma City, she worked her way up to executive secretary with Aging Services.
When Ruth’s husband of 43 years died in 1998, Ruth turned to Church of Christ Singles for companionship, meeting her husband of seven years. She said she never expected to meet anyone else after her first husband.
“I never thought I would remarry,” she said. “We were high school sweethearts. You make it to 43 years, and you think you’ll make it to 50.”
Ruth moved to Michigan with her second husband, where she lived until she returned to the dating Web site and decided to leave Michigan.
Her inspiration to return to the site is simple: “It was a long, cold winter,” she said.
-The Bogarts-
Bob and Ruth quickly circumvented the site, instead choosing to e-mail one another at their personal address and racking up hours on the phone. One month recorded 54 phone calls, sometimes five times per day. But Internet dating isn’t easy, they said.
“You’re not seeing somebody; you’re not seeing their reactions,” Ruth said. “You’re kind of walking tenderly along. This virtual dating is not very much fun.” “We wanted companionship,” Bob added.
Through e-mail, Ruth and Bob shared their history, dreams and faith. Bob said Ruth told him one of her dreams was to pray together each night.
“That’s what we’ve been doing ever since,” he said.
While Bob and Ruth got to know one another, Ruth was working on selling her house near Grand Rapids, Mich. Tired of the cold, she planned to move to Oklahoma City.
Now, the two tell what has clearly become a joke between them: Each time Bob promised to buy a bus ticket and take himself to Michigan to visit, Ruth insisted the bus had a flat tire.
“I was afraid he was going to come,” she said. “And then what was I going to do?”
Ruth’s house sold before Bob could make it, and the buyers needed the house by April 3 – the date the Bogarts had set for their wedding.
On April 3, 2007, the couple said their vows, after Ruth got Bob from the Oklahoma City, Okla., airport, and the two ate breakfast together, seeing one another in person for the first time.
“I was doing a lot of listening; she was doing a lot of talking,” Bob said. “And I knew then that I had not made a mistake.”
The Bogarts’ love story is documented in four three-ring binders that contain volumes of emails, phone records, and photos of the couple.
They wear matching gold rings – hers adorned with stones – made from melting down two wedding rings, one class ring and
three presentation pins
When they married, the preacher was in a walker, and Bob and Ruth recited their vows from chairs. Ruth jokes that she was worried about the preacher, so she had everyone sit.
The newlyweds live in Christian Village today, and Bob says that his great sacrifices for the marriage include hanging his clothes outside the walk-in closet in the apartment.
“That’s sheer dedication,” he jokes.
The dedication isn’t only a joke, however.
Bob suffered from a stroke six months ago, and Ruth diligently helps him maneuver the hallway. Bob taps Ruth on the arm and points to his watch, reminding her of her 3:30 doctor’s appointment. And even the little gestures – Ruth kissing the top of his head, Bob putting his hand on hers – remind observers that the Bogarts love each other very much.
“We just fit together really well, I think,” Ruth said. “We help each other and live life for each other. We want to spend the rest of our days together.”
