For 98-year-old author, finishing first book is bittersweet
Lou Moore, will tell you, he always imagined that after finishing his book, he would sit with his wife Nellie and read about their love story together. "But it wasn't meant to be," he says quietly, "Nellie passed away before I could finish."
And so surrounded by pictures of the woman he has loved for three quarters of a century, he finished their story in his book, Eternal Love. His motivation is pretty simple, "because Nellie was my life, we were both approaching 98 years old and I thought I should write about Nellie. The world I thought should know about Nellie, because I don't believe that there could be another marriage in the whole world that had the same tremendous effect upon a man by a woman such as Nellie."
His book winds through their lives and through history.
Born in San Francisco, raised in Brooklyn, Lou served in World War II. Nellie and her family survived life in a Japanese internment camp.
"And the fact that she was of Japanese descent 2nd generation and I was a Chinese 3rd generation and shortly after the war, it was amazing, that we saw each other and fell in love without too many words spoken," says Moore
Lou remembers the first time he saw Nellie. It was 1946 and she was performing in a chorus line. "I couldn't take my eyes off her for what reason I don't know," he muses, "And I didn't see her again till June 1, 1946, when she was having a cup of coffee at Hansen's drugstore luncheonette and when I saw her through the store window, drinking that cup of coffee my chest, just about burst out of anxiety."
He asked her if he could sit down, she said yes, the next day he says he kissed her. Ten days later they married.
It's one of his favorite memories, "And when I asked her to marry me she says I want to be your wife."
That as the beginning of an incredible life together. "We cherished each other and we devoted each other to a depth that I don't think any couple has ever experienced in our lifetime. We were married for 74 years."
In his book "Eternal Love,", Lou talks their friendship with actor Ernest Borgnine and their careers and struggles. But everything comes back to Nellie and their love.
She died on October 18, 2020 and it brought tears to both of our eyes as he remembered that last day.
"I rushed to her bed." recounted Lou in a quiet voice. "And I touched her arm and it still felt soft and tender and when I bent over to kiss her, I was shocked, I saw tears in her eyes and I screamed she's not dead, she's not dead, she's not dead, she's alive, she's crying but the nurse that was with me said Mr. Moore those are not her tears, those are your tears, your tears have touched her face."
Lou says he hopes his book will inspire women to seek out their own eternal love, and encourages husbands to treasure their wives.
"When did you last tell your wife you loved her dearly?" he asks, "Nellie and I have been married for 74 years and we said it every single day, I love you, I love you, I love you." He says Nellie always said everything in threes. "We kissed like we kissed on June 2, 1946, that's how a marriage should be."
His book is a tribute, and in its pages he is where he is with his Nellie again.
"I have read the book many times 20-30 times since she passed away because I relive those moments that we had," he says, "and I always believed as you have noted that one day I will reach up to the heavens and we will be together, together, together again to hug and hold and continue the second phase of eternal love."