50 years after getting a divorce, Kentucky couple will tie the knot for a second time

An elderly couple holds hands.
(Image credit: iStock)

They divorced five decades ago, but after reconnecting at a family reunion, Harold Holland and Lillian Barnes want to give their marriage another shot.

"I don't think we ever lost that love, to tell you the truth," Holland told the Lexington Herald Leader. Holland, 83, and Barnes, 78, got married in 1955, and had five children. Holland said it was "100 percent my fault" that they divorced in 1967, because he worked too much. They remained friendly, and both ended up remarrying — Barnes' third husband died in 2015, as did Holland's second wife. At the family reunion last year, they realized they still cared for each other, and decided to rekindle their romance.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.