KEY POINTS:
More than 70 years after they first met, teenage sweethearts Phil O'Neill and Joan Dean are about to marry.
The pair, both now 85, grew up in Masterton but were separated when World War 2 broke out and Mrs Dean's father forbade her to see Mr O'Neill for religious reasons.
Mrs Dean married and settled in Masterton while Mr O'Neill married in England, later moving to Lower Hutt.
Mutual friends put them in touch after their spouses died, and the pair reignited their relationship in January this year.
They got engaged in March, and plan to marry in Masterton, probably at the end of June.
- NZPA
