Fifty years apart fails to halt true love (From Surrey Comet)

Fifty years apart fails to halt true love

11:53am Tuesday 14th February 2012 in Sutton By Omar Oakes

A pensioner who married his long-lost childhood sweetheart after nearly half a century apart said it is never too late to find true love.

Norberto ‘Bertie’ Llupar, a 67-year-old checkout assistant at the Wimbledon Morrison’s supermarket, said Valentine’s Day was extra special as it marked four years of marriage to Monica, the woman he fell in love with nearly 50 years ago.

Mr and Mrs Llupar, now happily married in Rosebery Gardens, Sutton, were each other’s first love while growing up in the Phillipines.

But they grew apart after he moved to London to become a caterer, including 18 years as the owner of a burger van - ‘Berties Snack Bar’ - in Plough Lane, Wimbledon.

They kept in touch by writing letters to each other but contact from Bertie dried up after three years without explanation.

Mrs Llupar said: “Angry and confused, I tried to put Bertie out of my mind. Yet, while I had a few boyfriends over the years, I never forgot my first love.”

But in 1987, Monica’s aunt visited and dropped a bombshell – Bertie had written to her parents’ address two years before and was married, had three children, and married again.

One of his daughters, born 30 years ago, was even named Monica, who Bertie said was named after his first love.

After seeming destined to stay apart, Bertie’s second divorce led him to begin a “rigorous and relentless” search for Monica, in which he enlisted friends and family to help him track her down in 2007.

He said: “We met again after rigorous research back home in the Phillipines.

"I did not stop inquiring, questioning and working on how to find her.

“Then all of a sudden one of my cousin tracked her down on the side of the country working in a sugar mill company.

"I was so happy and grateful and I couldn’t thank him enough.

“It is never too late to make a dream come true.”

Monica, who had never been married herself, said she was amazed to meet him again: “As we caught up over dinner, I warmed to his lovely smile and brown eyes.

“He was older, yes, but he hadn’t changed a bit. He was still my sweetheart.”

The happy couple celebrated four years of marriage with friends and family at Cantina El Paso, a Mexican restaurant in Sutton High Street, on Saturday, February 11.