Clarence Purvis misses his wife, Carolyn. The couple married in 1949 and spent 63 years together until her death in late 2013.
“She was always with me when we were living,” the 93-year-old widower told local news WTOC. And she’s with him now.
Purvis eats lunch next to a photo of Carolyn every day at Smith’s Restaurant in Reidsville, Georgia. It was one of their favorite places to dine as a couple.
“Ain’t nobody loved one another more than me and my wife loved one another,” he told WTOC in a September interview that recently went viral. “I wanted what she wanted and she wanted what I wanted. . . Eat lunch, come back, watch television, go to bed, love one another. What more you want? We had everything we wanted.”
Joyce James, the eatery’s owner, said Purvis has touched the hearts of hundreds. “I asked my husband, I said, ‘You know if something happened to me, will you put my picture on the table?’” she told WTOC. “He said, ‘I don’t think so dear.’ He said, ‘I love you but, that might be a little much.’”
Purvis, who used to fix cars, now spends his days doing yard work for neighbors and for his church. And at least four times a day, he drives his 20-year-old Mercury to Glennville Cemetery to visit Carolyn.
“I imagine I come 125 times a month,” he said. “I love her that much. And miss her that much. And I think she would with me.”
