Love Story Steve and Linda Johnson had already been married for 20 years when Steve’s company, Johnson’s Modern Electric, got a job wiring the first Windsor Jewelers store back in 1986. The electrical contractor became one of Windsor Jewelers’ earliest customers when he purchased a diamond ring for Linda. “Working there, I saw how Rob always treated his customers fairly and honestly,” Steve says. “Unfortunately all of our jewelry had been taken in a robbery of our home and I had Windsor Jewelers custom craft duplicates of Linda’s original wedding rings. Steve continues, laughing, “I’ve done all my jewelry shopping at Windsor ever since.” High school sweethearts, Steve was the first guy Linda ever dated. Destiny separated them for a while when Steve went off to college while Linda was still back home. However, thoughts of her were dominating his every waking moment. He was missing her terribly. “I was going nuts, so I got a buddy back home to get word to her that I loved her and was missing her,” Steve reminisces. However, it didn’t quite go the way he anticipated. “She told him to tell me that as far as she was concerned, I was the last man on Earth she ever wanted to see again!’ Crushed by her reply, he vowed to change her mind. He didn’t know when and he didn’t know how, but he knew they were going to be together – he just felt it deep in his bones.
50 YEARS LATER WRITTEN BY LYNDON CONRAD BELL
Some time later, back home from college for a visit, he went to see her himself. Once again, Steve professed his love for Linda and asked her to please reconsider. This time, she told him to “Get lost!” to his face. Despite Linda’s protests to the contrary, her dad predicted that Steve was the man she was going to marry. Eventually Linda called Steve, they went out on a date and have been together ever since. “With things finally progressing, I eventually got up the nerve to propose,” Steve recalls. “It was at a football game; I asked her, she said yes, and that’s where I gave her the original ring.” Linda spent the rest of the evening showing off her engagement ring to all of her friends. They were married in 1966. His car back then was Steve and Linda Johnson reminisce about their ring purchase with Windsor a 1964 Chevrolet Impala Jewelers president Rob Simon. Convertible. This was their ride to the Diplomat Hotel in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where they spent their honeymoon. For their 50th anniversary, Steve quietly had the Chevrolet restored (yes, he’s owned it all these years) so he and Linda could recreate their honeymoon trip; complete with Linda’s new diamond ring and a 50th anniversary ring from Windsor Jewelers.
ABOVE: Linda and Steve Johnson on their wedding day June 19, 1966. RIGHT: The couple today in front of Windsor Jewelers with their original1964 Impala
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