He lost his childhood sweetheart in the 1930s. He posted an photo of her and it changed his life overnight

An old class photograph, taken in 1936, has brought two childhood sweethearts back together after more than eight decades apart. Jim Dougal and Betty Davidson, both 96, first met as children in Eyemouth in the Scottish Borders. They used to walk to school together before Dougal's family moved away in 1939. Now living in Essex, Dougal hadn’t seen Davidson since he left Eyemouth as a boy. But when his son, Alistair Dougal, came across the photograph while researching the family’s ancestry, it sparked a search to find every face in the image, as reported by BBC.

Jim had been about eight years old when the class photo was taken. It showed 32 children, including Davidson. Alistair, moved by the image during a visit to Eyemouth, became determined to learn what had become of the classmates. He began his search with the help of his father’s "astonishing long-term memory" and discovered that many of the children had passed away, while others had moved as far as Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Only three were still alive. The second living classmate was Davidson, although Alistair wasn’t sure at first. He said, "I was almost certain I had traced her to North Yorkshire up to a few years ago."

What finally helped him confirm her whereabouts was a post to the Eyemouth Past Facebook group. He explained, "In a final, slightly desperate push, I posted a copy of the photo on the Eyemouth Past Facebook group and asked if anyone could help. Within an hour, Betty's niece Maureen Stevenson posted and said, 'That's my aunt Betty and, yes, she is alive and well, and in North Yorkshire.'" Alistair reached out to her by letter. "As soon as she received the letter, she rang me. Not only that, then she sent me a photo she had, after all those years, of her and my father together, along with her sister Wilhelmina (Elma), taken in about 1936 too. They each have an arm around the other's shoulder. My father was completely overwhelmed," he said.

Alistair also said, "Before we left her, they re-posed that photo she had retained all that ttime,and they looked as happy and comfortable together as they did way back when." While recalling their connection, Jim shared, "We lived on opposite sides of the road in Eyemouth. Right opposite, there was a baker's shop and Betty lived behind it. We used to go to school together, we used to play together—everything." Davidson added, "I used to knock on the door for him in the morning or he knocked on mine." She also remembered the day the photo was taken in her back garden with her sister Elma.

Davidson said, "I was the only one that was left, and he was anxious to get in touch with me. I was quite surprised, actually." They spoke on the phone a few times before Jim and Alistair made the trip to North Yorkshire. She said, "It was nice to get in touch after all these years with my childhood sweetheart. I think he was quite shy, Jim, but we were good pals." Jim described seeing Davidson again as "fantastic." Reflecting on the moment, he added, "It is something that she is the last one sstanding,and so am I. It is just incredible, really." Alistair reflected on the incident, saying, "To describe it as a magical moment would be a gross understatement."