Their interracial romance ended painfully after college. They reunited 42 years later — and now live together. |
The Washington Post
2021-10-04
Sydney Page, Freelance Reporter
When Jeanne Gustavson spontaneously booked a trip to Chicago last summer, she had no idea what to expect. She was going to visit her first love — whom she had not seen in 42 years.
The last time Gustavson, now 68, spoke to Steve Watts was in the spring of 1979. They were young and in love, but there was one persistent issue: Watts was Black, and Gustavson’s family forbade her to see him.
“They had this mentality that Blacks and Whites don’t belong together,” said Gustavson, who was raised in the northern suburbs of Chicago, and now lives in Portland, Ore. “In my heart, I knew it wasn’t right.”
So, she flouted her family’s strict rule and dated Watts in secret.
Although she did not like disobeying her parents, “I couldn’t let him go,” Gustavson said…
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