Local 'Real-Life Love' story featured at people.com

The death of sex symbol Raquel Welch.

Ryan Seacrest leaving “Live with Kelly and Ryan.”

Queen Camilla’s coronation crown choice.

The ‘Real-Life Love’ story of Ed and Priscilla Sneckenberger.

Read the local story:Spark reignites and once-engaged couple marries after 60 years apart

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The latest news on well-known celebrities appears in the headlines of people.com, and Ed and Priscilla Sneckenberger of Hagerstown became local celebrities after their wedding in December 2022.

He was originally from Greencastle and she was from Hagerstown. Sixty years after their first engagement ended badly when he went off to study at West Virginia University, the pair reunited and their love story was first told in print and online in the local Gannett newspapers (Echo Pilot in Greencastle, Herald-Mail in Hagerstown, The Record Herald in Waynesboro and the Public Opinion in Chambersburg).

Social media was “widely ablaze with incredible caring likes and comments,” Ed reported after the story appeared.

They were contacted on Feb. 8 about being featured in the People Magazine’s online version filled with celebrity and human interest stories.

During the week of Valentine’s Day, people.com featured a variety of “Real-Life Love” stories and the Sneckenbergers appeared on Feb. 15 with the headline “Woman, 83, Denied Former Fiance’s Friend Request 60 Years After He Broke Her Heart — Now They’re Newlyweds.”

It recounts how Ed, then living in Morgantown, W.Va., tracked down Priscilla (Troxell) Matheny to apologize, her initial rebuffs and the rekindling of the spark from six decades ago.

The story by Diane Herbst concludes:

"She makes me feel five years younger," Ed, 85, says. "I'm overwhelmed with happiness."

Priscilla, 83, meanwhile, has some advice for the lovelorn.

"Never give up hope," she says. "In my case, it was shocking. Just hope that someday there's somebody who's going to come along."

Or, in her case, back.

Shawn Hardy is a reporter with Gannett's Franklin County newspapers in south-central Pennsylvania — the Echo Pilot in Greencastle, The Record Herald in Waynesboro and the Public Opinion in Chambersburg. She has more than 35 years of journalism experience. Reach her at shardy@gannett.com