A photo of an elderly man feeding his wife ice cream in the sweltering heat is tugging at the heartstrings of hundreds of thousands of people after an onlooker shared the tender moment on Facebook.
Brent Kelley, a 34-year-old pastor, was taking three of his children to a Sonic restaurant in Franklin, Tennessee, on Monday afternoon when he spotted the couple and took a photograph.
“It was the perfect representation of what love is. It was unselfish. It was 98 degrees and he’s sitting next to the pavement, which is also warm, and he’s feeding his wife ice cream because she’s disabled,” Kelley told TODAY.
The photo has been liked by more than 750,000 people on Facebook and shared more than 300,000 times.
The couple, Kelley said, appeared to be in their 80s.
The post was filled with comments from people remarking how sweet the husband’s gesture was.
“That is love for real,” wrote Gloria Jean James.
Another commenter, Jennifer Magee, added, “I hope my union is still this strong many years from now. That’s so beautiful.”
Kelley said that since the photo went viral, the son of the couple reached out to him.
“They said they felt really blessed by what everyone was saying,” Kelley recounted later adding, “I know it captivated my heart.”