Elise Doss was the first girl Carl Hankwitz ever kissed.

It happened at the top of a fire escape at Dover Street Elementary School in Milwaukee, just a quick peck in the dark. They were both in eighth grade.

"I remember I was horrified," recalled Doss, laughing.

That year they were an item, passing notes in class and riding their bicycles around the neighborhood. Sometimes, maybe, they'd even hold hands.

"Putting my arm around her in the movies was serious stuff," Hankwitz said, his eyes twinkling. "It was like being engaged back then!"

The summer before high school, both Doss and Hankwitz left for different schools. Doss went to Pulaski High School in Milwaukee and Hankwitz attended the St. John's Military Academy in Delafield, Wis.

They didn't see each other again for 47 years.

Doss had become a registered nurse, married a doctor in 1966 and had two children. Hankwitz studied to become a mechanical engineer, then got a job as a pilot for United Airlines. He was married twice and had a son.

"We had separate careers, separate children, separate lives, separate everything," said Hankwitz, who turns 65 this month.

Though they hadn't been in touch for decades, Doss and Hankwitz wondered what happened to their eighth-grade crush.

"I used to think about him over the years," admitted Doss, now 65. "I don't think I ever stopped thinking about him."

In July 2001 Hankwitz got an e-mail from one of his elementary school classmates, Ruth Kozlik, who was organizing a 50th reunion of the eighth-grade class of 1955. She wondered if Hankwitz, who was now divorced and living in Kane'ohe, would help her track down some of their classmates.

Kozlik sent him a list of about a dozen names. Hankwitz quickly noticed Doss' name wasn't on the list.

The reason: Doss didn't need tracking down. Kozlik and Doss had remained friends since the eighth grade.

Hankwitz got Doss' e-mail address from Kozlik and sent her a few messages. They began corresponding for months before finally seeing each other that December in Los Angeles, where Doss was living.

Neither had any intention of dating, despite his newly single status and her shaky marriage.

They met at his hotel and went to a nearby deli. Then they walked around Rodeo Drive, had dinner, then parted ways.

"It was just so comfortable," Doss said. "It felt like even though we were a lot older and we looked a little different, it was like we picked up where we had left off."

They reminisced about their favorite pizza parlor and frozen-custard stand back home. They talked about their jobs, their kids and everything else they missed the past 47 years.

They needed to catch up, and yet they felt like they had known each other all along.

"For me, when I first saw him, all I could think of was I never stopped loving this guy," Doss said. "It was a strange feeling. Those feelings were buried."

Two weeks later, Doss' marriage ended and she moved back to Milwaukee for a month.

In January 2002, she visited Hankwitz on O'ahu — and never left.

"I was really glad to have him to lean on," Doss said.

They shared a three-bedroom condo in Kane'ohe with Hankwitz's brother. Both retired, they spent those first weeks touring around the island. They snorkeled, hung out at the beach and golfed.

"It was like being on an extended vacation," Hankwitz said.

A few months later, during their usual morning walk along Kailua Beach, Hankwitz dropped to his knees in the sand, held out a ring and proposed.

"I thought, 'This poor old man won't be able to get up,' " joked Doss, who said yes.

The couple was married on Nov. 9, 2002, on Kailua Beach. Doss wore a dark-green Hawaiian-print dress and haku lei. Hankwitz wore a matching aloha shirt and maile. Their reception was held at Luana Hills Country Club for about 80 guests.

The couple — who now live in Kailua with their 8-month-old Papillon, Cookie — approach this marriage a little differently.

"You learn a lot of hard lessons when you're married," Doss said. "You learn that you need to have things in common, to communicate, that you can't walk around with your feelings inside."

They love to lounge in their pool, play golf or have dinner with friends together.

But they also give each other enough space to pursue separate hobbies. Hankwitz is a budding filmmaker, working on the script for his first feature film. Doss designs jewelry, which sells out quickly at Kailua Beachwalk.

They went to their 50th reunion together in 2005 — a year after they were married — to the shock and surprise of their classmates.

"We were quite the conversation piece," Doss said, smiling.

Though neither would have ever expected they'd get together after 47 years, love, this time around, couldn't be better.

"It's been unbelievable," Hankwitz said. "When we did get together, we just took off again. It was like we were never apart."

Reach Catherine E. Toth at ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.