Widower Brings Photo Of Wife To Restaurant For Their Daily Lunch Date

Retired mechanic Clarence Purvis and his wife Carolyn used to enjoy their daily lunch dates. And even though Carolyn has already passed, Clarence would still bring her memory with him to enjoy lunch together.

The couple would eat together at Smith’s restaurant in Reidsville, Georgia six days a week for years until Carolyn passed away. Restaurant owner, Joyce James is a witness to their loving relationship. Talking to CBS News, she said, “They were unbelievable. I mean you could tell that they adored each other.” She adds, “She’s a perfect wife if ever there was one. Ain’t nobody loved one another more than we loved one another. Everybody said that.”

Even after his wife passed away, Clarence continued to have lunch with her at their favorite restaurant.

The 93 years old would head to the cemetery first in the morning and would kneel down to give her a kiss. Then, he would bring a picture of Carolyn to their restaurant so he could eat lunch with her.

They would hear him say to the picture: “Baby, I wish you could go home with me. I’d trade places with you.”

Clarence and Carolyn met in 1948. Since then, they have been inseparable. Talking to WTOC about their loving relationship, Clarence shared, “Ain’t nobody loved one another more than me and my wife loved one another. I wanted what she wanted and she wanted what I wanted.”

Then after lunch, Clarence would return to his wife’s gravesite. He would go and visit her four or five times a day until he wasn’t able to drive. And when Smith’s Restaurant closed, he found a new restaurant where he could continue their lunch dates.

Daughter Dianne Knight said, “We tried to cook for him or take him, nope. It wasn’t nothing but the Dairy Queen.”

In fact, their love story can be witnessed even inside their family home. They have a love lamp. This lamp is always kept on to remind him of their undying love for each other. Clarence shared, “This here, that lamp ain’t never turned off, not since she came out of the hospital five months before she passed. That light was turned on and it ain’t never been turned off.”

Dianne said, “He became world-known just to show his love for his wife, how much she meant to him.” Clarence’s son, Dale Purvis, added, “And that was the environment we grew up in all our life.” Dianne added, “That’s what this world needs today. The kind of love that they had for one another.”

Sadly, Clarence passed and joined his wife in heaven in 2021. Even though sad of his passing, his children are sure that he is now as happy as he was when their mother was alive because he is finally reunited with her in heaven.

Dale added, “The pictures of him after momma passed, you hardly saw him smile. As opposed to when we had pictures of him before. But now he’ll be smiling all the time.”

The media ended up picking up the story about Clarence and Carolyn’s love when a picture of him taking his wife’s picture to the restaurant went viral, making their love story known all over the world, reminding us all that even after death, you will be loved.