ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill., July 23 (UPI) -- A 93-year-old Illinois man says he is marrying his third-grade sweetheart after 85 years apart.

Roland "Mac" McKitrick, 93, of Arlington Heights, proposed to Lorraine Beatty, 92, of Georgia, Tuesday morning, about three years after they reconnected following an 85-year lull in their friendship, the Arlington Heights Daily Herald reported Thursday.


"She was my third-grade sweetheart back in 1921," McKitrick said. "We knew each other for about one year. Then, for all practical purposes, we lost contact for 85 years."

However, McKitrick said both he and Beatty had brothers living in Connecticut who became friends, and the two reunited through their brothers.

"I still picture her as my third-grade sweetheart. I've carried that in the back of my mind since that time," McKitrick said. He said he still has a photograph of himself with Beatty taken when they were children.

"That snapshot stayed in my memory," he said, "and her face stayed in my memory."