“Rekindled Teenage Romance After 32 Years Apart: Couple’s Heartwarming Story”

Meant to be (Picture: SWNS)

Thanks to a bit of social media stalking, one couple reunited after 32 years apart.

Dawn Gray and Lee Richards met on Southend Pier in July 1991, aged 17 and 15 – and instantly felt a connection.

Lee found Dawn attractive, so called out to offer her one of his chips.

They swapped numbers and he called her within days, and began meeting every weekend all summer.

Dawn, then 15, ended it, despite loving him, because of her single friends.

Lee was heartbroken and said he often thought of calling at her parents’ home over the years.

They both then had other long-term relationships and children, but Lee, now 49, contacted her on Facebook 32 years later.

After chatting for three hours a day over a few weeks, they arranged to meet.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Childhood sweethearts (Picture: Dawn Gray / SWNS)

Now a couple, they say they are just as keen on each other as they were as teens.

Dawn, 47, a teaching assistant from Rainham, Essex, said: ‘It was meant to be. We picked up again just like that – like time hadn’t passed.

‘When he arrived at my door after all that time we just stood laughing – it just felt like when we were young again.

‘It will always feel like that with him. We can literally talk about anything; we just go from subject to subject, and we laugh so much.

‘It’s no problem if we don’t have money to do anything, we’re just happy to be together.’

They now spend all their weekends together (Picture: Dawn Gray / SWNS)

She said she often thought about him over the years and knew it was love at first sight.

Lee, a window cleaner from Holt, Norfolk, said: ‘When I first ever saw her I knew there was something special about her, and she looked stunning.

‘Now it honestly feels like we’ve never been apart.

‘When I saw her on the doorstep recently I just wanted to give her a huge kiss.’

Lee said when he got Facebook, the first thing he did was look her up and send a message.

They now spend every Friday to Monday together, and chat for an hour every evening, and a half hour on lunch breaks.

‘We were ready to be together,’ said Dawn.

‘I just knew it would be alright when I messaged her,’ said Lee. ‘The time was right.’

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