Couple counting on Oprah for wedding

By Tanya Bricking Leach
Advertiser Staff Writer

A Kane'ohe couple will be the latest Hawai'i unknowns to get a brush with fame on national television today when "The Oprah Winfrey Show" airs at 4 p.m. on KHON (Channel 2).

Tom Aki and Elizabeth Lee are one of six couples who are finalists for "Oprah's Million-Dollar Wedding Giveaway." Courtesy Tom Aki

The show already has flown them to the Mainland twice for interviews and taping, and they say people always tell them their story is interesting and romantic.

"He was my first boyfriend, my first love," Lee said. It just took them a while to get back together.

It was 1974 when they first fell in love. They were in 10th grade at Castle High School, the kind of couple nominated for the homecoming court. They stuck together until they graduated in 1976.

Lee went off to college in Colorado and eventually married. Aki settled in San Diego, where he ran a beverage company, and kept in casual touch with Lee, visiting her during his trips back home when he'd stop in at He'eia Elementary, where she teaches.

"In 1999, on one of my trips back, I noticed she wasn't wearing her wedding ring," Aki said. He asked her about it, and she told him her marriage had fallen apart.

"We kind of just talked and kept in contact," he said. "We made a connection. We were soul mates."

He moved back to Hawai'i four years ago.

"The feelings were always there," Lee said. "It's really great. We have such a partnership, which to me is the most important thing you can have."

Their former classmates won't be surprised to hear they're getting married. When they attended their last reunion, people assumed they'd been together ever since graduation.

But Aki and Lee are mum on wedding details. They say people will have to tune in today to find out whether Oprah will give them a dream wedding and air their "I Dos."

Tanya Bricking Leach writes about relationships for The Advertiser. Reach her at tbricking@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8026.