Romance cut short by former fiance’s death during Vietnam War

It's been more than 40 years since Cathy Navin saw her first love, but that hasn't kept the downtown resident from thinking about him and sharing the couple's story on a daily basis.

The daughter of a Navy brat, Navin, who was 14, had been living in Hawaii for two weeks when a friend introduced her to a classmate named David LeRoy Bell. Love at first sight, Navin said, was the only way to describe her feelings.

"My friend said, 'Cathy, I'd like you to meet my friend David,' " Navin said. "My eyes saw nothing else. I saw nothing but David. David was it."

An instant connection sparked between the two teenagers, who spent every day going to the beach or catching a movie. Bell took Navin to the senior prom, and the following morning, Navin had a special surprise for her mother.

"I woke up one day and told my mother, 'David and I are going to get married,' " Navin said. "She was cool with it. She asked how I was going to support ourselves, and I told her, 'We're just going to live on the beach.' "

But Navin knew better. While Bell enlisted in the Army, Navin took a couple of part-time jobs, attempting to establish savings for a wedding. Come Valentine's Day of 1969, however, everything changed. Bell, 20, was killed by a land mine on Feb. 14, 1969, during the Vietnam War. It was a time that Navin struggled to come to terms with, especially after Bell's parents ordered the teenager to avoid attending his funeral.

"For a child -- because I really was a child -- that was a little bit overwhelming," Navin said. "But after the very hardest first six months, when my only thoughts did revolve around joining my beloved in death I saw him."

Navin said she often sees Bell's face and feels his presence, especially during episodes in which she suffers epileptic seizures. She wrote a poem, "I Saw His Face," which has been read throughout the world. Navin said her short time with Bell propels her to help others who need guidance and healing.

Navin, however, didn't give up on love after Bell's death. She met Bob Navin, her husband, in 1989, and has since found love that she didn't believe was possible.

"In my life, David was so much a part of my life -- and he still is -- and I said I would never have the love (again)," Navin said. "But I did fall in love with Bob, and it is a great marriage. He knows of David, and he knows he's there."

Bob Navin said the attraction to his wife is based on trust and the openness with her past.

"It was pretty much her honesty that attracted me to her," Bob Navin said. "Cathy's a very religious person. She has a deep belief in the afterlife. She believes we can communicate with those who have gone on, and one (of those people) was her David. That's fine with me, and it doesn't distract from our relationship."

Cathy Navin believes that she and her husband are soul mates, despite having lost her first love in the Vietnam War. Both have children from previous relationships and have helped raised a grandson.

Navin said she feels blessed to have Bob by her side but still imagines what life would have been like had Bell returned safely from war.

"I like to think that had David come back, and we would've gotten married, he would've had great compassion," Navin said. "But I think that our fairy tale, beautiful love could have had some boulders fall into it."

Navin's love for both men, she said, has transformed her life in various ways. Though she continues to think about Bell, Navin remains realistic and tries not to dwell on the past.

"I'm blessed that God's put an angel in Heaven and an angel on Earth," Navin said.

Even though both men have significant meanings to her on Valentine's Day, Navin said it is a time in which she can't help but smile.

"I grieved in pain for David for years," Navin said. "But on Valentine's Day, I have a smile on my face. (Life's) a journey but if you trust, if you love, and you laugh, and you believe I believe love transcends the difficult times."

Contact Paradise/Downtown View reporter Lisa Carter at lcarter@viewnews.com or 383-3686.