The internet has been collectively moved by an elderly woman reminiscing over a rediscovered love note from 70 years ago.
Bryan Shutts, 40, has an incredibly close relationship with his grandmother, Betty, and her sister, Barb, and has an entire TikTok account, @betty.barb, dedicated to their antics.
The account is full of the sisters joking around with each other, reflecting on their lives, or bickering as sisters do. One video has exploded in popularity as a decades-old love note was rediscovered and shown to Betty.
Now 85, Betty instantly remembered the schoolboy who had sent her the note when she was 14.
And her grandson, Shutts, told Newsweek: “Betty married my grandfather Ralph, and they were married 57 years before he passed. He was an amazing man and treated Betty fantastically. He was a true gentleman.
“In my mind, he was the only man in my grandmother’s life, entirely. The thought of another man courting Betty was something I never even thought about. But when I read the note and saw his picture, it brought me a lot of joy for her. She kept it for a reason, right?”
TikTok @betty.barb
Shutts caught a video of the moment he presented the rediscovered note to Betty. As she held the photograph of her classmate, along with the letter, she knew instantly: “That’s Don Smith.”
“He wrote me this note when I was a freshman in high school,” she said before asking Shutts to read the letter out loud.
And he did so, with the note reading: “Dear Betty. I would like to go out with you sometime if you don’t mind. I don’t know where we would go because I don’t have a car. That is why I haven’t asked you sooner. Love, Don.”
Betty remembered “redhead” Smith well and confirmed she did go out with him.
But it didn’t work out, as Betty recalled: “My mother said she wasn’t going to have any redheaded grandchildren.”
Looking at the photo again, she added: “I still got that, huh.”
TikTok users loved the sweet video, which has over 19,000 likes since being shared on August 14. As one wrote, “She remembered what he said. She moved her lips as he read it back to her.”
Another TikToker said, “She never forgot about Don,” while a commenter wrote, “That’s a beautiful memory.”
“Don giving [her] a picture is the equivalent of sending a selfie,” said another commenter.
Shutts said he found the photo while going through a box of old things as Betty and Barb’s TikTok fans had asked to see pictures of them in their younger years.
“Going through these photos that I have never seen before helped me see a side of Betty that was different than the grandmother I have always known,” he told Newsweek. “She really was beautiful, and I can see why Don wanted to take her on a date.”
He called the reaction to the video “absolutely amazing,” with people sharing their stories and “so many people” wanting to track down Smith all these years later.
He revealed that Betty did wind up with red-haired grandchildren of her own through her great-grandson, Haidin. He joked, “Looks like Don got the last laugh!”
Shutts’ family is close-knit, and three years ago, they were devastated by the loss of Betty’s youngest son, police officer Steve, who Shutts said was like a “brother” to him.
Shutts and his grandmother struggled with their grief in different ways: Shutts changed careers and now works with an addiction treatment provider in Steve’s memory. Betty lost her love for life and retreated into herself, and her beloved sister, Barb, began staying with her for company.
Bryan Shutts
It all changed when Shutts was visiting the sisters, and they began bickering over “the size of their butts.”
“I pulled out my phone and captured some of it on video and I posted it to my Facebook page later that day. I got a bunch of comments from friends who said I needed to make them a TikTok account.”
While 82 percent of people aged 60 to 69 use the internet, the number drops dramatically among older seniors. According to data from Pew Research, just 44 percent of people over 80 report using the internet, and just 28 percent report having home broadband service.
But in Betty and Barb’s case, it didn’t take long for one of the sisters’ videos to go viral. Shutts read the comments to his grandmother, who “has a hard time believing” the sheer number of people who love their videos.
“But, it has ignited new life into her,” Shutts said.
“She is up and moving again. She is eating again. She is getting out of the house again. She’s always trying to think of new ideas so she doesn’t get ‘boring’ for her followers.
“She’s laughing, and she’s dancing in the kitchen with her great-grandchildren. This whole thing has her acting like herself again!
“I am incredibly grateful for all of the love and support she has received from the community.”
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