This story was excerpted from an interview in September 2026 with Sam and Sandy.

Sandy His sister married my first cousin.

Alli Crandell Okay.

Sandy And my first cousin loved to play softball, so we get together and play ball. So he saw me, and I was 13, and he was 16, and I was still young, and he would come over every once in a while, and we would talk, and we’d go to church. And he came over one Sunday, and I hadn’t got home from church yet, and I didn’t even know this till five years ago. He came over before I got home, and my daddy stopped him and told him I was too young, which I was, and so it hurt his feelings. 

Sam He told me I was a nice young man, and when his daughter got 16, she could start dating you. But he didn’t want her dating until she was 16. And I went back home. 

Sandy And he went to Florida. He went to Florida in 1977. Never heard from him. Didn’t know what happened. Nobody told me. I thought, well, you know. Oh well. And then probably in 2011, maybe, right? He sent me a friend request on Facebook, and actually, everybody calls him Sam, and he said, “This is Glenn.” I didn’t know who Glenn was, and I said, “I don’t know who you are.” And he said, “They call me Sam. They used to call me Sam.” 

Alli Crandell  Yeah. 

Sandy Oh, I know who you are. So he started calling me. I started calling him. We started talking. He left his job in Florida, moved up here with no job, and we got married September 29, 2012. We have two beautiful grandchildren, well, they’re mine, but he claims them. And the little boy thinks he is- there’s nobody in the world like him, so he’s adopted my family. 

Sam Oh, they adopted me. They accepted me. I’m fortunate to be able.