Front page: Tom and Claire love story

Tom Hallman, Pulitzer-Prize-winning writer for The Oregonian, had heard about the love story of Tom and Claire Hekker and it took a long time to convince Tom to be interviewed and let their story be told. The journalist came and did a lot of interviews -- was this story ever going to appear? Finally, on Christmas Eve, it was the front-page feature. They are my neighbors two doors down. They have been sweethearts since grade school, married for 66 years, raised 9 children, but Claire has Alzheimer's and this year had to move to a care facility, so this would be Tom's first Christmas without her, and he is having a tough go of it.

The story is quite lovely. You can read it at http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/12/a_christmas_story_where_love_r.html
and the site has a heart-wrenching video titled “The Long Goodbye: Love, Dementia, and Beethoven in A Minor," with Claire playing the piano and Tom talking about what's happening to them.

This is my fourth Christmas on the houseboat. I saw Claire daily, but she never remembered who I was. I looked familiar to her, but she never recalled my name (even though one of their daughters is named Donna) nor where I live. Today I talked to Tom and he said Tom Hallman told him this story has gotten something like the third-most number of responses ever, and people have been calling Tom constantly since it appeared. I remind him that one of Tom Hallman's other heart-warming pieces turned into a book and movie. I asked him what actor would he want to play him and he laughed.