(light acoustic guitar music) - [Beth] Vocal, The Water is Wide, take one.

♪ The water is wide ♪ I can't cross over ♪ And neither have ♪ I wings to fly - [Beth] This is an old Irish folk ballad called The Water is Wide.

It's a song about love and longing and loss.

♪ Build me a boat ♪ That can carry two ♪ And both shall row ♪ My love and I There is no more stirring melody or more profound lyric to accompany the love stories I'm about to tell you.

All the stories are set in Pittsburgh.

Each is filled with the sweet and sorrowful pangs of true and lasting love.

I asked Bucky to sing the theme song for this film because of its message, that at its best, love is about two people working together to span the oceans that keep us from our dreams and separate us from each other.

In this song, I hear a note of hope, especially in those beautiful last words, about lovers facing the world together.

♪ And both shall row ♪ My love and I ♪ And both shall row ♪ My love and I The mid-1800s was a bad time for a young Irish couple to be in love.

(solemn violin music) A blight tore through Ireland, ruining the potato crop and setting off a famine of rampant starvation and disease.

More than a million people would die.

A million more would flee the country, looking for a better life.

Among them were Peter Morgan and Rosann Grant.

They lived in the village of Knockbarragh, in County Down in Northern Ireland.

Peter was 30 and Rosann was just 20, and they were engaged sweethearts when they walked together onto a wooden schooner, a famine ship, bound for North America.

They were full of hope, but Peter and Rosann could not have predicted the sorrow and chaos that was ahead for them, starting with that ocean voyage.

The boats came to be known as coffin ships.

- [Man] They were basically packed in the hold like cargo.

- [Beth] I began my research of this story with Gerard O'Neil, who wrote a book about all the potato famine refugees, and their treacherous two-month trip across the sea.

- They had to cook below decks, they had to go to the bathroom below decks.

And consequently that meant that typhus, dysentery, cholera were rampant.

- [Beth] One of every five people died during the journey.

On some boats half the refugees died.

- No last rites, they were basically just dumped overboard.

And there are many accounts that sharks would just follow the vessels.

- [Beth] We found Peter Morgan on a ship's manifest from 1850.

He and Rosann survived and nearly made shore in New England.

And then, disaster.

Off the coast of Boston, the ship struck an iceberg and sank.

This was not a rare occurrence.

As many as 40 of the famine ships wrecked along the North American coast during the five years of the mass immigration.

- The ships were not seaworthy and they were often over-insured.

That is, the ship was actually worth more to its owner at the bottom of the sea than it was making it to port.

- [Beth] As the ship plunged into the ocean, women and children were rescued first.

Peter knew that Rose had survived.

But in the confusion, Rose did not know if Peter had lived or died.

Peter was alive, but because he spoke little English, Peter could not find where Rose had been taken.

Lost and alone in a strange land, Peter is believed to have walked and worked his way to Pittsburgh, where distant relatives may already have settled.

And all the while, Peter was looking and longing for Rose.

As you'll see later, there is more to this story.

Those same feelings are part of modern-day love stories, too.

And because this film was inspired by a love song, we went looking for couples for whom music is at the heart of their own stories.

(light piano music) ♪ Oh, how lovely - It was so long ago, but I do remember the kiss.

That's all that mattered.

That kiss was what did it.

♪ When she looks ♪ My way, yeah - [Beth] To get to the kiss, we have to go back more than 50 years to a church hayride in the Deep South.

As the story goes, James Johnson, a preacher's son, was tucked away in the corner of the wagon with his date.

And along came Pamela, who got between them, literally.

- I was about to kiss the girl.

- [Beth] The other girl on the hayride.

- The other girl, and we were in the corner.

And she jumped between us and my lips met hers and that backfired.

The whole night, the girl that I was with was waiting for me to apologize.

I overheard her tell some of her friends that.

And I'm saying to myself, I ain't apologizing to you.

I mean, I liked that kiss.

- [Beth] They were smitten, he with that kiss and she with this shy boy.

- So, I never liked the dudes that thought they was all that and had it going on.

Please.

- I repeat, I was acting cool.

She's calling it being shy, I call it being cool.

- [Beth] This would be a shorter story if they got together and stayed together after that first kiss, but they were just teenagers and their love story took some loopy detours.

Both married other people before coincidence and music brought them back together.

James, a pianist, was at a music school in Louisiana when Pamela, a vocalist, walked in.

- And I said "James."

He said, "Pamela."

- [Beth] They learned they both were divorcing.

It had been seven years since they'd seen each other.

But in that moment, time dissolved.

The marriage proposal came on stage during a concert, with James sending his message through his hands on the keyboard.

- [James] I played on the piano and when I came off the bandstand she said yes and she knew that I was proposing to her on the keyboard.

She knew that.

- [Pamela] When he would play keyboard, it's almost like you could feel like making love.

- That's why I didn't have to get on my knees and go through the ritual, "Will you mar--" No, no.

- And it's so true.

- You just knew?

- I knew.

- [Beth] Since then, music has been at the center of their marriage.

They founded and run the Afro-American Music Institute in Homewood, where they've shared their love of jazz with hundreds of children and adults.

- One, ready, go.

(piano music) - [Beth] Their boys' choir has traveled and won awards across the country.

♪ I need you ♪ I need you, yes it's true ♪ And you need me And Pamela and James?

They still perform together.

♪ When I fall in love - [Beth] It was a happy coincidence that made them cross paths in that music school all those years ago.

- All of this would not be here if it were not for the fact that God brought them together and intended for them to be together.

It was their destiny and still is.

- [Beth] The family has grown since then, five children and eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

And at the center is this love story that started with a stolen kiss.

♪ And she's like the stars ♪ That shine so bright - [Pamela] I've never been in love but with one man in my life and I thank God I'm with him today.

♪ She is so fine ♪ Pamela - [Woman] I fell in love with him right away, because, you know, this marvelous voice, ah.

(singing) - [Beth] It's been said that love first enters the heart through the eyes, or even the stomach.

But for Ann Steele, love came in through the ear.

- It was very moving, just the resonance and the beauty of his voice.

- [Beth] Ann first heard Lewis in a music practice room at the University of Michigan.

She asked him to sing at church, he said yes and asked her out to dinner.

But things got complicated when he went to her home that night.

- And I was thinking, "Who am I gonna ask for, "'cause I don't know this girl's name."

Her roommate came down and said, "Oh, you must be Lewis.

"Ann will be down in a minute," and then I knew her name.

(laughing) - [Beth] They got engaged, but Ann was headed to Europe on a Fulbright scholarship, to study church organ music.

They broke up, and then decided they couldn't be apart.

After a year, Ann came home to him.

- She got off the bus and we went and had lunch, and probably by the end of the lunch we were engaged again.

(laughing) - [Beth] It sounds like you had never really gotten her out of your mind.

- [Lewis] Oh, of course not.

- [Beth] They have built a life around music.

Ann is a professor of organ and sacred music at Duquesne University.

Lewis, who is a certified public accountant, has directed and sung in church choirs.

(organ music) Their house is filled with music and with the majestic pipe organ that makes it.

- We all played the piano.

So, we'd be practicing downstairs and she would be upstairs in the office or the bedroom and she would yell down the stairs, "You're playing the wrong note!"

Ugh, it was so frustrating.

- [Beth] They have been married 53 years, an accomplishment for any couple.

But Ann and Lewis endured perhaps the greatest and saddest crisis of all, the loss of their son Alex, who died in a motorcycle accident when he was just 19.

- And he would go to the office and he would stare at the computer, but he was too depressed to do anything.

- She kept me grounded.

- It still comes up at different times.

You feel the grief very acutely.

Just at some odd times, there'll be something that will remind you of the loss.

- A lot of couples don't make it through the death of a child.

And that's their emphasis in life really is that they're both able to find a meeting of the minds and hearts through music.

(organ music) - [Beth] And now there are grandsons to join in the songs.

- [Lewis] We're so proud of 'em, we don't know what to do.

- [Beth] They're all here because a young woman heard a handsome voice that day so many years ago.

- What are all the threads of our lives that bring us to this place and where we are right now, and taking a moment to really appreciate the people and the influences in our life and the people that we've loved and lost.

- They just inspired a huge amount of just love and soulfulness in their musical expression.

You could see clearly where we came from by hearing them play together.

- And sometimes I say, "Do you think they're talking about our age, "our race, or our genders?"

And he goes, "Mm-hmm, yeah."

(laughing) - [Beth] All of the above.

- Yeah, all of the above.

- [Beth] When it comes to double-takes and second glances, Thomas Douglas and Seamus Ricci attract maybe more than their share.

So, we were walking across the street one time and people had to move outta the way for us because they were in the middle of the sidewalk.

And we kept holding hands, and that was my determination.

I said, "I'm not gonna drop his hand this time."

And then the guy that was there, middle-age, he went, "Ooh."

- "Two giants."

- "Two giants."

And I was like, "Oh, giants, "I didn't expect him to say that at all."

(laughing) You know, okay.

- [Beth] Their height and other things aside, the two are used to being the center of attention, bringing their talents to center stage in musical theater and opera and choirs.

- [Thomas] All the women do it for right now.

- [Beth] Thomas teaches music and drama at Carnegie Mellon University, has performed in opera, and is the artistic director of Pittsburgh's Bach Choir.

(uplifting choir music) That's where he met Seamus at an audition.

- Well, I thought what a nice young fella.

And I thought, "Really talented, really good singer, "really good musician."

(uplifting choir music) - He made you nervous, (laughing) but he was very kind and he always has this kinda stuff where he's pushing people to be better.

- [Beth] Seamus got the part in the choir and built a career working with operas around the country.

The path to their relationship was complex.

Thomas was married for 28 years.

- My life with my ex-wife was authentic also.

We raised two children and had a great family, so that still was a legitimate part of my life.

But there was a part of me that felt like there's more for me and to actually be the man that I am.

I came up in a generation that those kinda feelings or thoughts really could not be discussed or really had to be pushed down.

- [Beth] His friendship with Seamus developed slowly, mostly around concerts and shows, until it became obvious.

- And we sat down to have a drink after one of the programs and I said, "So, what is this?"

And I said, "I don't know, but I like it."

- [Beth] They were married in September 2016 on a perfect sunny day in the backyard of their home.

- I cried through every picture.

I was like, (sobbing), you know?

It was just really incredible.

- [Beth] Were you crying?

- I was smiling a lot.

Yeah, it was a really great day.

- [Beth] And now, their life is filled with travel.

- [Seamus] But we got this stone in Hong Kong for about $7.

- It was a big chunk of rock.

(soaring opera music) - [Beth] They work together to encourage amateur singers to perform operas and they sing together.

♪ Destined to be - He is so even and calm and grounded and I can go up and down really severely.

And I'll be going off about this and that and, "She said this!"

And he goes, "Well, maybe she was having a bad day."

And I'm like (groaning), only because he's right.

I'm kinda living a dream right now.

When I was younger man, I imagined what my life could be like.

So now, I just feel like I'm stepping into a whole new part of my life that really feels like (exhaling), you know?

It feels like I can finally take a breath and actually be myself.

- Was that better?

- Yeah, that was way better.

- Okay.

(laughing) - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(light Irish flute music) - [Beth] The shipwreck in 1850 would cast Rosann Grant and Peter Morgan far, far asunder.

Rosann is believed to have been taken with other survivors to a home in or around Boston.

But Peter could not find her.

He eventually made his way to Pittsburgh, where he was listed in the Allegheny City directory as working for the railroad, likely as a blacksmith.

As he worked, he searched, taking out ads in newspapers.

They must have been difficult days for Peter, filled with backbreaking work and feeling homesick for his sweetheart and for Ireland.

- They would never completely forget the old country.

And they often had aspirations of going back at some point.

They often gave it up for a number of reasons.

- [Beth] Months passed, and then years.

Rosann was nowhere to be found.

But this story doesn't end there.

In 1858, Peter found her.

We don't know where or how, but they were back together.

It had taken more than seven years of searching.

(upbeat Celtic music) In April of that year, they were married at the Cathedral of Allegheny City, now St.

Peter's Church.

For seven years, he had never given up.

For seven years, she had waited for him.

Peter and Rosann were my great-great-grandparents.

My research of their story has taken me all over Pittsburgh.

They lived in a row house on North Charles Street and would have five children.

Their third child, Rose, was my great-grandmother.

Her son, William, was my grandfather.

William married Sylvia and they had my mom Dorothy, a musician and teacher who married a music man, my dad Paul.

(orchestral music) They created and perform in community bands.

They have been married 62 years, every one of them filled with music.

(slow piano music) As for Rosann and Peter, life never did get much easier.

Four days after giving birth to their fifth child, Rosann died.

- [Woman] And these are the original interment records.

- [Beth] Catholic cemetery records show she was buried in the winter of 1869.

She was just 40.

- I cannot imagine the grief.

And it's very similar to the grief that families feel today.

But I think that also in that time, people died at a younger age.

- [Man] Rose Grant.

- [Beth] Yep, that's his wife.

- [Man] Rose Grant.

Wife of Peter Morgan-- - Peter Morgan.

- [Man] A native of-- - [Beth] County Down, Ireland.

Margaret-- That baby, a girl, died the next summer.

Morgan, died... Aged eight months.

That's the baby, that's Rose's baby.

Peter lived 30 more years, dying on North Charles Street at age 82.

His will suggests he never remarried.

We can't know the whole story of Peter and Rosann.

But everything I've learned tells me theirs was true love.

They had each other and then got lost and then found each other again.

Are we projecting romanticism onto this?

- Probably not.

- [Beth] They survived famine, disease, a shipwreck, separation, and a life together that ended so sadly.

As my mom said, we are made of hearty stock.

That rugged spirit has spilled down through the generations.

All the best love songs and love stories have it.

- He never gave up.

He never accepted the fact that she's gone.

- [Beth] We all are here mostly because of love, the romantic kind, the spark that gets everything started and then burns with that sweet longing.

- There's something in someone's life that if they're willing to admit it, it's in the heart that has a sense of something that's bigger than them.

And that can cause you to even have to wait for years and years and years until you actually see it happen.

- The human spirit is very alive (laughing) and beautiful.

And when people really are meant for each other, it happens.

People fall into people's lives for a reason.

- [Beth] And we're also here because of the other kind of love, made of teamwork and commitment and stubbornness and faith.

Peter and Rosann had that.

It's the kind of love that keeps going and keeps on searching and keeps on singing and never ever gives up.

(light acoustic guitar music) ♪ The water is wide ♪ I can't cross over ♪ And neither have ♪ I wings to fly ♪ Build me a boat ♪ That can carry two ♪ And both shall row ♪ My love and I ♪ There is a ship ♪ She sails the sea ♪ She's loaded deep ♪ As deep can be ♪ But not so deep ♪ As the love I'm in ♪ I know not how ♪ I sink or swim ♪ Build me a boat ♪ That can carry two ♪ And both shall row ♪ My love and I ♪ And both shall row ♪ My love and I Very nice.