It was an ordinary day like so many others. She made her way to work and started it with a huge smile. But as the day went on, she got a surprise visitor. In one split second, she would be transported back to 1959 and the smile she started her day off with would quickly be wiped away.
Renate Stumpf, a German native, had a strict upbringing. At only 18 years old her parents didn’t have enough money to send her to college, so she needed to find a job tohelp them out — and she did. Renate found a job at an army base in Germany in the late 1950s but, little did she know, she wouldn’t be staying in Germany for long.
There at the army base, she met the love of her life — or so she thought. Renate worked in the army base kitchen preparing and serving food for the soldiers.
Renate was working in the kitchen that day when a young soldier approached her. This young man was Louis Demetriades, who was stationed at the same base Renate was in. Both of themwere 18, so they had a lot in common, and this sparked massive chemistry between them. But it was not until Louis asked Renate to make him a burger that he fell in love.
“The first time I ever saw him, he asked me if I could fix him a hamburger. He liked who he saw, so he asked to go help me out inthe kitchen.” Renate told ABC news. These two lovebirds quickly married. But then, Louis got an offer to work in the U.S that he could not, and would not, refuse.
Subsequently, both Renate and Louis moved to the United States and began a family.
Renate had never studied English, and it was very hard for her to communicate in the language and understand her surroundings easily. That is where things started going south for the couple. “We had little financial support, I didn’t know anything, and I could barely speak English,” Renate told ABC News.
In the years that followed, Louis and Renate decided to get a divorce. This decision was not an easy one but they knew it was the right one, for both of them. They moved on with their lives but still, Louis could not forget Renate so easily. Louis married and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee.
Renate also remarried and lived happily with her new husband. But even though Renate and Louis shared children, they weren’t in contact whatsoever. 40 years had passed, but Louis had someunfinished business he needed to settle with his old flame. Renate went to work that day, like any other. But while she was speaking to a customer, she sensed someone behind her.
Renate slowly turned around and saw Louis standing there, and she recognized him instantly. Emotions washed over her like a tidal wave.
You see, Louis had secretly contacted Renate’s daughter on Facebook. Her daughter had warned him that Renate may not react well to his plan, but still gave him all the information he needed. Renate had no idea all of this was happening. But once she turned around and saw him, she started shaking.
At first, Renate had thought nothing of seeing her children approach her. Her kids would come to say “hi” from time to time while she was working, but when she turned and saw her ex-husband standing behind her, she knew in her heart that Louis and her own children had set her up.
