You probably don't know 73-year-old New Yorker Joe Mikolajczak. Even so, his story is relevant to you, and everybody else you do know, because it is incredibly heart-warming.In 1963, Joe married his girlfriend Marylou, claiming that "You can look around all you want for as long as you want; you’ll never find anyone like her".
Almost 50 years later, just shy of their golden wedding anniversary, Marylou missed out on her ever-loving husband's secret surprise as she passed away before he got the chance to give it to her.
Joe had in fact purchased the digital billboard advertising space over a year in advance, securing a digital billboard along the I-190 southbound to celebrate their 50-year landmark, under the notion that "You gotta inject some kind of, let's say levity, into the marriage. Just to see her smile was worth it to me". When Marylou died at the age of 68, 5 months short of Joe's public display of affection, his option to get a refund was unflinchingly declined and the outdoor media has gone up in a doting ode to Marylou. His only amendment was to alter the years on display, scrapping their Gold wedding date in favour of presenting Marylou's lifespan: 1944 - 2013.
In her dying days, Joe told Marylou of his plan to showcase his love for her, "and all she did was look at me and tell me I’m nuts"; however, for Joe, "she was worth it", and he admits that
"I miss her every day. I cry every day. I cry every night - and I should cry, she was a beautiful woman inside and outside."