Love finds a way

COEUR d’ALENE — Vickie and Larry Tanner originally broke up because of his car. 

The couple went to a Sadie Hawkins dance together in 1975 at Coeur d’Alene High School and went steady for a year. 

Larry remembers their instant connection. 

“I think I fell in love with you when I had first seen you,” he recalled.

“His patience and his kindness drew me to him,” Vickie said.   

After Larry graduated in 1976, Vickie wanted to be with him, but because he lived near Wolf Lodge and had a job to cover costs for his ‘67 Chevelle, it was hard to carve out time together.  

“I was going to be a senior and all of my friends wanted to go out,” Vickie said. "I said, ‘I really like ya, Larry, but I want to go have fun!’ He was married to his car.” 

The years passed after the relationship ended and both Vickie and Larry went on to get married and live life, until about three decades later when Larry’s sister encountered Vickie eating lunch. She told Larry to seek Vickie out.  

He made the call and about three weeks later Vickie got ready to go on a date. However, she was in for a surprise when he came to pick her up. 

“I hear thrum thrum, thrum, thrum coming down to the house. And Larry Tanner is coming down in the same car we dated in,” Vickie recalled. “What are the chances of that? I haven’t seen him in 30 years.”  

A year later, the couple was married in 2010 in Post Falls and life seemed full of fun and adventure. 

“I did a lot of traveling, I was an American Kennel Club obedience judge,” Larry said. “I went all over the United States and Canada.” 

"Then in 2012, it all stopped,” Vickie said.  

Larry suffered a stroke. 

“Ninety-seven percent of people don’t live through what I went through,” Larry recalled. “If it wasn’t for the love we have for each other it would be really rough.” 

Vickie remembered watching Larry relearn how to walk, talk and do simple tasks.  

His short-term memory had weakened considerably, and their new marriage instead became a time of intense recovery. 

“It takes time and patience for both of us to go through that,” Vickie said. “He said, 'that’s for the past the present and the future.' The love story is the endurance we have for each other.” 

“What can I say about my wife?" Larry asked. “I would not have made it without her.” 

After everything the two have been through, Larry couldn’t help joking with his wife about all those years ago. 

“It’s a good thing I still have the car,” Larry said with a chuckle.

    Vickie and Larry Tanner got married in 2010 at the Trailhead at Q'emiln Park in Post Falls.