On this day that celebrates love and romance, meet Herb and Nancy Seidel, childhood sweethearts who went their separate ways after dating in high school, only to find each other several decades later.

The two met at a Halloween party in 1950 when they were in ninth grade. “I guess you could say I was smitten,” Herb recalled. “There was something about Nancy I couldn’t help but love.”

The two dated throughout their years at Clayton High School; both graduated in 1953. Herb left St. Louis to attend college at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia. Nancy hoped to go to University of Iowa, but her father wouldn’t allow her to attend unless she could secure dormitory housing. She could not.

“So, she decided to get a job,” Herb explained. “Being the very intelligent person she was, she got a job at Washington University’s medical school. Shortly after I left town, she found a fellow who was about to graduate from dental school and married him my sophomore year of college.

“I went to the wedding but not happily,” he added.

Eventually Herb met and married his first wife, who grew up in the Philly area. They raised two children while Nancy and her first husband raised their three kids.

Fast forward to years later when, on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend in 1981, Herb’s wife passed away at the age of 42 after suffering an arrhythmia. Two years after that, also on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, Nancy’s husband passed away after a sudden heart attack.

When Herb learned of the death, he reached out to Nancy and the two spoke briefly. He offered his phone number and Nancy took it, but months went by without her calling.

At the time, Nancy was working for a group of surgeons in St. Louis. One day, Herb’s uncle, who resembled Herb, came to the office to see one of the surgeons. Seeing this man’s likeness to her high school sweetheart — and that his last name was the same as Herb’s — triggered Nancy’s memory. She scoured to find the phone number Herb had given her.

“On March 5, 1984, the day before my birthday, I prayed for God to send me someone to love,” said Herb.

On March 6 — Herb’s 48^th birthday — he received an unexpected but most delightful gift.

“The phone rang, and when my secretary said who it was, I nearly jumped over her desk to get the phone,” said Herb, who will turn 89 . . . yup, on March 6.

“I called to wish him a happy birthday,” said Nancy, 88, still remembering the date even after 30 years.

“I told Nancy I was going to write to her and when she thought it was appropriate, I’d like to come to St. Louis and take her on a date,” said Herb.

And so, on April 17, 1984, the two went out after not seeing each other since they were 18. Herb moved back to St. Louis from Philadelphia and the two were married on Nov. 30, 1986, after Herb asked Nancy’s father for his permission.

“When we were planning to get married, both sets of parents were still alive,” said Herb. “I said to Nancy, ‘I think it would be appropriate for me to ask your father for your hand in marriage.’ And she said, ‘That’s nice, but you don’t have to do that.’

“Still, I went to her father and said, ‘I’d appreciate it if you’d allow me to marry your daughter.’ And he looked at me and said, ‘What took you so long?’”

Today, in addition to five children between them (though one of Herb’s daughters passed away a year ago) the couple have six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. They live independently at Brookdale Senior Living in Creve Coeur. Herb reports that he and Nancy are relatively healthy and enjoy every day that they get to spend together.

When we spoke Tuesday, they weren’t sure of their Valentine’s Day plans, though Herb quickly added: “She can count on a kiss from me.”

Herb considers Nancy, who has been his wife for 37 years, the love of his life. She, too, feels similarly, calling him her “everything” and explaining his charisma, warmth and kindness make him so easy to love.

“My mother lived with us for the last two years of her life,” said Nancy. “And she always said that she liked him better than she liked me.

“She also said that those five children had to be born. That was God’s only reason that this happened the way it did.”