This is a love story that began on Leary Way in 1999. Although their lives together ended on Jan. 16, the romance of Bob and Charlotte will never end. They met at Fleury's Ballard Tire Co. and parted by a hospital bed at Swedish First Hill. As Charlotte Gaddis puts it, "the time that we had was so short, but it was perfect."

Last June I wrote about a man who suffered a massive stroke while his wife was out of town, but was found alive in his apartment thanks to the neighbor and the Comcast man. When his wife reached his side at Harborview he was able to squeeze her hand, just as in the last few days he was still able to kiss her cheek as she repeated to him that she was still right there by his side.

Is it Ballard, or are other people throughout the city destined to find so many links and connections between past and present, family and friends? How many other people could we connect back to the businesses owned by Earl Fleury, his tire shop on Leary and the auto body shop at the start of Holman Road?

When I first lost my husband, my dad made frequent visits from Massachusetts to help me out. He'd make sure that my car got a tune-up and he supervised the crew replacing my roof. He struck up a relationship with Earl Fleury at the tire shop and told me about a man there who was a history buff and extremely knowledgeable about the Civil War. My dad introduced me to him and I never forgot the full, silvery head of hair of the quiet man named Bob Gaddis.

In 1999, Charlotte Tollefson was living in Ballard; her five children were all adults with their own families. Her car had a flat so she went to Fleury's on Leary Way where she met Bob Gaddis. As she tells it now, "I wondered how many flat tires it was going to take before Bob would ask me out." On the refrigerator in their apartment is Bob's business card from Fleury's. He wrote on the back: "Good for one coffee at Starbucks and one kiss. Must be redeemed by Jan. 20, 2000." Bob and Charlotte married on May 12, 2001.

With Ballard acting as the hub, my life converged with that Charlotte and Bob's when I met a man whose mother lived across from the playground at Adams Elementary, one block from my house. I heard the sirens at the end of my street when Bob was found last May. Although he was able to leave the hospital and move to Columbia Lutheran Nursing Home, his physical recovery was always impeded by complications. On Charlotte's 76th birthday, Bob became seriously ill and spent his final days at Swedish on First Hill.

While I was not present at the beginning of their love story, I was present at their farewell. But the story always starts with the flat tire that took her to Leary Way.

Robert Gaddis was born in Seattle on July 29, 1937 and was raised by his mother (Evelyn Darah) and grandmother; his mother went on to found Ministry of the Airwaves in Canada. At 17 he left Lincoln High School to join the Marine Corps, and lived by the adage, there's no such thing as an ex-Marine. He served twice in Korea and in the Philippines. He was father to a son and step-children. He was in the automotive and tire business for over 40 years; at Standard Tire in Renton and Fleury's in Ballard. Most recently he worked for Horizon Ford in Renton, and was a working man until the day of his stroke.

Despite the massive head injury and partial paralysis Bob recovered to the extent that he could remember minute details of his life and joke with the people around him. Sometimes he would confuse present pain with that he had following a racecar injury as a young man. But he'd healed then and was confident that he would heal now. Although in a wheelchair, he always planned to walk again. As Charlotte says, "he went before he knew that he couldn't."

He was a gentle man who loved anything involving high speeds, such as car-racing and flight. He raised and showed prize-winning German Shepherds. Bob collected antiques and Civil War memorabilia. He never read fiction, only history. He was a member of Lutheran Peace Fellowship and the Peace Seekers at Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church. He loved car travel and still planned to take Charlotte to the wine country; it was his dream to show her Gettysburg. He wanted to be an organ donor and instead of flowers wanted any donations to go the Lutheran Compass Center or the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.

The first year of the marriage, Charlotte was diagnosed with lung cancer. "What a rock he was," Charlotte said stroking his still gorgeous mane of hair. "The way this man spent our first year with me - but he never flinched."

After Bob's stroke they renewed their wedding vows in a ceremony presided over by their pastor, Paul Hoffman, who would also pray over Bob so many times at Swedish. "I do," they both said to each other again, in sickness and in health. In December Bob was able to shop for Charlotte's Christmas present, diamond stud earrings. As a couple they had that coffee and a kiss, seven years, and the last seven months. And as Charlotte says, "it was perfect."

There will be a memorial service for Bob Gaddis at Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church on Sunday, Jan. 27 at 2 p.m. 7500 Greenwood Avenue North.

Peggy can be reached atlargeinballard@yahoo.com. She writes additional pieces at http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/ballard.