Old Lyme Couple Finds Necklace Buried in Ireland 26 Years Later

It's a love story for the ages.

Laurie McGrath left part of her heart in Ireland 26 years ago. On a trip with friends in 1990, she buried half of the necklace her then-boyfriend Bill McGrath gave to her.

"'You break it in half,'" I said. "'You wear one half and bury the other half in Ireland and we'll go dig it up someday,'" said Bill McGrath, Laurie's now husband.

Four kids and four grandkids later, that day finally came.

For their 25th wedding anniversary, the couple returned together to a cemetery in Castletownroche. Using pictures as their guide, they looked for the necklace.

The love letter Laurie wrote more than two decades ago might have been destroyed, but inside a plastic bag was the half of a necklace. The symbol of the young love between Bill and Laurie still shining bright 26 years later.

"It's got to be here because we took two days in that spot just to make sure we were going to find it. We would've dug everything will cemetery," Bill McGrath said about search.

"We found it in 45 minutes," Laurie McGrath laughed.

All these years later the couple shares a love stronger than ever.

"Too much in love still after all these years," Bill McGrath said.

As for the other half of Laurie's necklace, it is hidden somewhere in her house for safe keeping. She said her next quest with Bill is to find it and make the necklace whole again.

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