Another Love Story

Forging Ahead

The old man was Jake Reissig who was 86 years old. He lost his wife, Betty of 65 years in 2014 and had been visiting her grave regularly since then. Even after 6 decades of marriage, the man was still deeply in love with his wife. He would bring her roses every morning. The pair had nine kids together. Unfortunately, in 2014 death separated them. Then also the man’s love for his deceased wife did not lessen a bit.

Looking After Her Beauty

A Widower's Routine

He would visit her grave twice a day with roses in his hand. When Roger Reissig, son of Reissig asked him why he used to do that, he would say, “She always kept herself pretty, so I’m going to do the same.” Not only that he also used to water the grass surrounding her grave in order to keep it beautiful. Roger also said, “Liz,” as he calls her, was always “dressed to the tee.” He continued, “She was beautiful to him.”

Seeing Her Every day!

The man had a fixed routine every day. He used to go to the mass every morning and they would see one of his children for coffee. After that, he would return to his home’s garden and would fetch a rose from his garden and would take that to his wife Elizabeth’s grave. Roger said, “Dad would do anything for anybody.” “He’s got a ritual. He goes to mass in the morning, then we have a coffee, then he clips a rose from the rose garden that he has for mom. He still brings them to her,” he added.

Arrival Of Drought

The summer of 2015 brought a harrowing drought with itself. The whole of Texas was shadowed with drought. Due to the calamity, the grass enclosing his wife’s grave began to turn brown and crispy and that really bothered him. To avoid further damage, he took up the task of watering the grass himself. It was all because of his constant efforts, the grass once again turned green and glistening.

Cry Of A Stranger

Green With Love

While watering the grass one day, he heard a woman crying inconsolably. He went to her and asked her what was the matter. His son narrates the incident,”He saw a young lady down from him kneeling at a grave and crying uncontrollably, dad went down and talked with her and found that her husband had been a [staff sergeant] in the US Air Force and lost him in 2010.” He knew very well how does it feel like losing the person you love the most. Along with that, he was very impressed by the kind of life this late army man led.

Tribute

The old man began to water the grass surrounding Sergeant’s grave also. Roger states, “He thought, ‘How could I not better honor him than by watering his grass also?’ It was his way of giving tribute to the late army officer. Every time he would water his wife’s grass, he would water Sergeant’s grave too. That was the reason why the grass of Sergeant was still shiny and greeny when grass belonging to all other graves had turned yellow and dry.