Walmart employee surprised with marriage proposal from ex-husband of 43 years

FORT SMITH, Ark. -- In a remarkably touching event, a 75-year-old woman's ex-husband surprised her when he proposed to her again after being divorced for 43 years.

ABC News reported that Walmart employee Renate Stumpf was surprised at work when her ex-husband Louis Demetriades approached her from behind carrying a sign that read, "Happy Valentine's Day! Will you marry me?"

At first, Stumpf rejected his offer to tease him, but then agreed she would remarry him.

"Forty-three years is a long time, so I wasn't sure at first," she told ABC News, "but I will marry him though because he's changed for the better, I've come to realize."

Stumpf added that this was the best Valentine's Day she has ever had and that the proposal "knocked her socks off."

The two first met at an army base in Stumpf's native Germany when they were both 18. Demetriades was stationed there while Stumpf worked in the base's kitchen.

After the two were married and moved to the United States, they had three children together and were met with significant financial troubles. They divorced after 13 years of marriage.

Both Stumpf and Demetriades remarried, but both of their second spouses recently died. Demetriades reconnected with his ex-wife when trying to get a hold of their daughter last December, calling the Walmart store to rekindle a friendship with Stumpf.

"When we saw each other again last December, we knew right then we still loved each other for sure," Stumpf told ABC News. "That love has never passed."

While there are no current plans for a civil or church wedding at this time, Stumpf told ABC News that they decided to wait a little and just enjoy each other's company for a bit.

"There's no rush at my age," Stumpf told ABC News. "God put us together again, and it couldn't be any other way after all these years."