TODAY
It’s a picture that has warmed 2 million hearts and counting. In it, a man uses flash cards to help his sweetheart relearn the alphabet. The photo was snapped by a stranger captivated by the elderly couple’s unconditional devotion to each other.
“We could feel the love emanating off of them,” said Matthew Ballestero, who took the picture earlier this month while with friends at a local Starbucks. The coffee shop is the site where 82-year-old John Allen takes his longtime love, Linda Alexander, for her reading lesson six mornings a week.
Alexander, 70, lost much of her memory after a sudden illness five years ago led to a stroke and severe brain damage. “For a while, I couldn’t even talk – except to say, ‘I love you,’” she told NBC’s Kristen Dahlgren in a segment that aired Wednesday on TODAY.
Full story: Viral portrait of love: Man teaches girlfriend to read after stroke