Couple who divorced 50 years ago will get married next week

“We started out the first mile together, now we’ll walk the last mile together.” That’s how a couple who divorced fifty years ago explained their decision to get married again.

Harold Holland and Lillian Barnes fell in love as teenagers. They married and had five children together but divorced in 1968. They married other people, but their spouses died in 2015. Holland hosted his annual family reunion at his house last summer. This time, Barnes attended.

“One thing led to another,” Holland said. He takes full responsibility for their divorce and says he was surprised she gave him another chance. Next week, they will marry again.

Their blended families include ten children, more than twenty grandchildren, and thirty-plus great-grandchildren. Holland says he’s lost exact count. He has enjoyed telling them the news, however: “The kids and grandkids got a big bang out of that. Grandma marrying Grandpa sounds a little weird.”

Their grandson, Joshua Holland, is a pastor in New Orleans and will officiate their wedding on April 14. He says, “This is the most monumental wedding I’ll probably ever do in my life.”

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