From death and divorce comes this Columbus love story, a second chance four decades later
Unfortunate circumstances — death and divorce — created the opportunity, but when Kim Royal and Kevin Whittle of Columbus celebrate their first Valentine’s Day as a couple, they will focus on the fortunate circumstances that let them cherish this second chance four decades in the making.
“It feels like it is supposed to be,” Kim, 54, told the Ledger-Enquirer.
“It feels like it was meant to be,” Kevin, 54, told the L-E. “But it took 35-38 years to come to fruition.”
How they met
Kevin immediately was smitten when he met Kim during the ninth grade at Columbus High School in 1983.
“I was kind of attracted to her,” he said. “She had a great personality.”
But he couldn’t find the courage to ask her on a date, so the closest one-on-one time he got was escorting her to classes.
“Yeah, I’d look up, and he would be waiting for me in the classroom,” Kim said. “We’d just walk down the hallway, chit-chatting. We became really good friends.”
They hung out in groups outside of school. They attended bonfires and football games together, but they never went steady or exclusive.
“I probably didn’t push as hard as I needed to because of the friendship,” he said.
“I was a little more hesitant than him,” she said. “… I realized that he really, really cared about me, and I didn’t want to break his heart. I didn’t want to break up the friendship, so I pulled back.”
Kevin got good grades, but he was more of a partier than Kim, so she figured her mother wouldn’t approve of her dating him.
“I wasn’t sure that he was the kind of guy I needed to be committed to,” she said. “But I always knew he cared about me. … There was always a special connection between us.”
Kim modeled as a real-life mannequin at the Gayfer’s department store (now Dillard’s). Kevin would go there to flirt with her and try to get her to laugh while she would try to stay motionless.
They liked cruising around town in Kevin’s Trans Am with the T-top down and music blaring.
One night, Kim’s boyfriend at the time saw her sitting with Kevin in the back of another friend’s car. The boyfriend stopped them and confronted Kevin. A bloody fight ensued. Kim broke it up.
Kevin got the message: Keep his hands off Kim.
“If it couldn’t be a relationship,” Kevin said, “I still wanted her as a good friend.”
No wonder Kim kept the card Kevin gave her for her 16th birthday. He wrote:
Kim,
To me we have a wonderful relationship that is very special. We have experienced a lot together and I want you to know that I will always be here for you. … I hope our friendship will continue forever. … Remember always that I care about you a lot and would give the world for you. Always remember I Love You!
Stayed connected
After they graduated from CHS in 1987, Kim attended Columbus College (now Columbus State University) and became a dental hygienist, now working at Rivertown Dental Care. Kevin went to work in his father’s construction business and now owns Contract Hardware & Specialty.
Kim and Kevin remained in Columbus. They randomly saw each other around town every now and then, but they still didn’t date, and they ended up marrying other people.
They stayed connected, however, because their families shared hunting property, where their sons rode four-wheelers together.
Fast forward to 2021, when two seemingly unrelated events converged to reunite them.
Kim had been divorced for about four years. For more than 20 years, Kevin was a patient at the dental office where Kim was a hygienist — but someone else had been cleaning his teeth until his hygienist retired and assigned him to Kim that spring.
“When I saw his name, I got butterflies in my belly,” Kim said with a laugh. “I was like, ‘Oh, no. This is going to be weird.’”
“It was like we got reintroduced through her cleaning my teeth,” Kevin said.
That summer, Kevin’s wife at the time, Vickie, called Kim seemingly out of the blue and invited her to join a group of friends to see their new house. Kim, however, was at a restaurant too far away, and it was too late that night to meet them, so she declined the invitation.
Everyone at Kevin’s gathering that night ended up sick with COVID — and Vickie died from the virus three months later.
Kim attended the funeral to console Kevin.
“Kevin was not in a good place,” she said. “He needed a friend, so I stepped up.”
Kim brought food and fellowship to Kevin’s house.
“We were talking about the good ol’ days,” she said, “and it was like those years had never even passed. It just felt so comfortable. … There were a couple of times he would break down, with everything going on, and I would just reach over and give him a big hug.”
Kevin was grateful.
“It meant the world to me,” he said. “I needed someone at that point in time to talk to.”
First kiss
While they were saying goodnight to each other in Kevin’s garage after one of Kim’s visits, Kevin told her, “See if you feel anything. Just come over here and give me a hug.”
She did. And they kissed.
“I got those butterflies again, just like I did in high school,” she said. “I always loved his kisses.”
Kim looked at Kevin and told him, “This just feels so right.”
When she returned to her home, she asked herself, “Why am I fighting this, like I did in high school?”
Those visits evolved into lunches together during the next few months. One day, Kevin wondered aloud to Kim: “What are the odds of both of us being available and reconnecting at this moment in our lives?”
So he asked her out for a dinner date.
Kim hesitated.
“Maybe this isn’t really about me,” she told him. “Maybe it’s really about you and the loss of your wife. I don’t know that you’re ready.”
But he convinced her that he indeed was ready. And so did his sons.
“Once I knew they were comfortable,” she said, “I was like, ‘Let’s go out.’”
First dinner date
Their first dinner date was at the 219 restaurant on the waterfront at Lake Harding. Kevin kept telling Kim he couldn’t believe this moment finally had arrived.
“Thirty-plus years,” he said, “and it’s a long story to get there.”
Kim marveled, “It felt easy — like really good.”
Dinner dates turned into road trips for concerts and beach vacations.
“We had a lot more in common than I realized,” Kim said.
They are thankful their friendship was formed before their romance. Such a dynamic makes their relationship feel stronger, they say.
“We’re more comfortable around each other,” Kevin said.
“It was just so much better to date someone that you already know who they are,” Kim said. “… I knew pretty much everything about him.”
Kim had a tough time finding someone compatible when she started dating again after her divorce.
“I was like, ‘I’m giving up on men,’” she said.
Kevin broke through her defense with his sweet words and actions.
“He would just tell me like how much he really, really loved me,” she said. “… I realized, he’s so all about me, and I never really had that. He’s just in tune to my feelings and makes me feel really good about myself.”
The proposal
Last December, after they ate dinner in downtown Columbus at Mabella’s restaurant, Kevin suggested they drive around midtown to look at houses decorated with Christmas lights.
As Kevin drove near Columbus High, they started reminiscing about their school days. So he suggested a walk around the campus.
When he parked his truck at the spot they used to meet in the mornings before school, the headlights illuminated a handmade sign with blown-up copies of Kim’s yearbook photos from each of her four years at CHS.
On the sign, above the photos, was written this declaration: Original Scene of the Crime!!! Where You Stole My Heart.
Under the photos was written this question: Will You Marry Me?
And next to the sign, a dozen roses with a card and this aspiration: I hope you’ll say yes.
Kim hesitated — not to answer his proposal but because she has trouble reading from such a distance.
But after they got out of the truck, Kevin knelt beside Kim and presented her an engagement ring. That sealed the deal.
“It was perfect,” she said.
Timing
Despite their years apart, Kevin never stopped caring for Kim.
“There’s always been a special place in my heart for her,” he said. “… With all the circumstances that came up, I wanted to give it the opportunity to see if there was anything still there.”
They explained why they love each other.
“She’s got a beautiful personality, happy-go-lucky, always willing to have a good time,” he said. “She’ll back you up whenever, and she is real beautiful.”
Kevin added with a laugh, “She gets onto me when I need it.”
“I’ve never been with someone who’s so in tune with my feelings and makes me feel like I’m a queen,” Kim said. “He makes me feel special. He’s always complimenting me. He’s always my support person. We have fun together. We have a lot of the same interests. Just the way he looks at me, and I just feel a connection that I’ve never had before.”
Kevin told his sons that he knows some might say it’s too soon after their mother’s death, but he doesn’t want to regret again missing a chance to be with Kim.
His sons told Kevin they just want him to be happy.
“The fact that we found each other again and his whole family has supported us, and my kids are good with it, his kids are good with it, and our parents are, we all have a good relationship,” Kim said. “That’s important to us.”
So this complicated relationship, born four decades ago and interrupted by divergent journeys, has come full circle — and has culminated in this simple conclusion:
“This is it,” Kim said. “This is who I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
