Richard and I celebrated our 48th Wedding Anniversary yesterday, September 25. We were married in 1964. As I went through the day, many memories flooded my mind. It sure is a long time! I am so very grateful for every year and every moment which we have passed through this time together.
Richie noticed me in the eleventh grade in physics class at Walt Whitman High School. He has since told me that he went home from school that day and announced to his mother that he had seen the girl that he was going to marry. There is one thing about Richie, when he sets his mind on anything, he usually makes it happen. Our marriage is living proof!
For nine years we lived over the garage at Aunt Carrie and Uncle Albert’s house in West Hempstead. We had two tiny bedrooms, a living room, bathroom, and an alley kitchen on the lower level behind the entrance into the garage. We had two wonderful landlords and lived on a beautiful piece of property. We did a lot of traveling and life was good. Richie worked as a superintendent for an Acoustical Ceiling and Lathing Company and I worked as a nurse at Syosset Hospital on Pediatrics and then the Recovery Room.
Before marriage Richie said, “Anna, I don’t know where my career or life will lead us but I want you to promise that you will always be behind my decisions to try something new or support me when I choose to take risks”. The wheels of Richie’s mind are always turning and I have always been at his side encouraging and helping him. Early on in our 48 years we owned Black Angus Cattle as an investment. We would travel to Virginia to see our herd of cattle. I felt like I was working to pay for and feed cows. It became a forced savings and when we sold the herd we had enough money to make a down payment on a home. Richie became Superintendent at Melen Construction Company when he was 25 years old, bypassing many with more experience and years in the business. We bought a beautiful piece of property with a little cottage on it in Dix Hills in 1972. Richie always thinks “Big”. He would build our house, and that he did! It was a labor of love and much hard work. It is a beautiful home, a lasting monument to a very talented and dedicated man.
By the time we moved to Huntington we had two babies. Elisa Lynn was born on May 11, 1970 and Erica Gayle was born on October 22, 1972. We moved to Dix Hills in January 1974. Richie was a one man construction team. We were always in the middle of some project. He is a perfectionist almost to a fault. I would have been happy just to complete a job but when things have to be done perfectly they take much longer. Working in NYC and building a house on weekends and evenings is no easy task but he, or should I say we, did it.
In 1975 a friend in the lawn business gifted us with our lawn. This led to the next adventure in our lives. Richie decided to go into the lawn business part time in addition to working in NYC, and finishing our home. That became a full time business in 1978. Leisure Lawns Inc. of Long Island is another legacy of Richie’s and is still a thriving business in Huntington. After selling Leisure Lawns in 1985 Richie established C.H.Jones, a kitchen cabinet business which he operated for the next 10 years. At that point he returned to construction in NYC for ten years before retiring in 2005.
1979 to 1983 were sad and difficult years for our family. Elisa died one month after her 9th birthday. Our third daughter, Carrie Marlene was born on our 16th wedding anniversary, September 25, 1980, but only lived for two weeks. Richie was back and forth with her in the neonatal ICU at Meadowbrook Hospital while I was recovering from an emergency C-Section at Central General Hospital. During those years I also had two miscarriages. Joy returned to Richie, Erica, and I when our fourth daughter, Christa Grace, was born on May 25, 1983. God’s grace restored our lives and helped us to move on.
Fast forward to September 25, 2012; Erica and Christa have both graduated from Muhlenberg College in Allentown PA. They are married and both have homes in Pennsylvania. Erica and Trevor have given us two wonderful grandsons, Trevor and Hunter. Christa and Kris recently gave us our third grandson, sweet, happy little Harrison. Each family has given us Golden Doodle grand-dogs, Tyler and Buddy. I cannot fail to mention our own little family of pets: Molly, Suki, and Saki, a 10 year old Black Lab and two cats who had their first birthday yesterday on our 48th wedding anniversary.
I retired from Huntington Hospital in 2008 where I had worked as an Oncology Nurse since 1991. We bought our home in the Florida Keys in 1991 and now spend most of our year in Florida. When we sold our home in Dix Hills we bought a little home in Pennsylvania to be near our children and grandchildren during parts of each year.. After retiring we took a wonderful trip back to beautiful Norway where we visited family and cruised up Norway’s west coast through the fjords. On a second trip we went to Santorini and Italy. We are in Florida now and will return to PA before Christmas for the Holidays.
I was listening to the stereo today as I was reminiscing through the past. The words of a song “Would You”, sung by George Beverley Shea made me think more deeply about all we have been through during these 48 years. The words are as follows:
Would you cherish loving arms, if you never shed a tear?
Would you welcome going home, if you’d never been away?
Would you treasure guiding hands, if you’d never been alone?
Would you value having hope, if you’d never known despair?
Would you treasure being safe, if you’d never lost your way?
Would you cherish gentle words, if you’d never been afraid?
I don’t think so, I don’t think so, I really don’t think so.
We have been blessed with 48 years of marriage; our vows and commitments to each other have never waivered. We will always remain strong for each other and for our family. We have worked hard and weathered the storms of life together. When one of us is weak, the other has to remain strong. This we will keep on doing. God’s presence is in us and around us preparing us for all that lies ahead.
Reflecting on our past helps to give us strength and hope for the future. My challenge to family and friends, whether young or old, is to reflect on your own life and spiritual journey so that you can decide to grow and move forward in your love for and walk with God. As we honor God, He honors and blesses us. “To God be the Glory”!
Richie noticed me in the eleventh grade in physics class at Walt Whitman High School. He has since told me that he went home from school that day and announced to his mother that he had seen the girl that he was going to marry. There is one thing about Richie, when he sets his mind on anything, he usually makes it happen. Our marriage is living proof!
For nine years we lived over the garage at Aunt Carrie and Uncle Albert’s house in West Hempstead. We had two tiny bedrooms, a living room, bathroom, and an alley kitchen on the lower level behind the entrance into the garage. We had two wonderful landlords and lived on a beautiful piece of property. We did a lot of traveling and life was good. Richie worked as a superintendent for an Acoustical Ceiling and Lathing Company and I worked as a nurse at Syosset Hospital on Pediatrics and then the Recovery Room.
Before marriage Richie said, “Anna, I don’t know where my career or life will lead us but I want you to promise that you will always be behind my decisions to try something new or support me when I choose to take risks”. The wheels of Richie’s mind are always turning and I have always been at his side encouraging and helping him. Early on in our 48 years we owned Black Angus Cattle as an investment. We would travel to Virginia to see our herd of cattle. I felt like I was working to pay for and feed cows. It became a forced savings and when we sold the herd we had enough money to make a down payment on a home. Richie became Superintendent at Melen Construction Company when he was 25 years old, bypassing many with more experience and years in the business. We bought a beautiful piece of property with a little cottage on it in Dix Hills in 1972. Richie always thinks “Big”. He would build our house, and that he did! It was a labor of love and much hard work. It is a beautiful home, a lasting monument to a very talented and dedicated man.
By the time we moved to Huntington we had two babies. Elisa Lynn was born on May 11, 1970 and Erica Gayle was born on October 22, 1972. We moved to Dix Hills in January 1974. Richie was a one man construction team. We were always in the middle of some project. He is a perfectionist almost to a fault. I would have been happy just to complete a job but when things have to be done perfectly they take much longer. Working in NYC and building a house on weekends and evenings is no easy task but he, or should I say we, did it.
In 1975 a friend in the lawn business gifted us with our lawn. This led to the next adventure in our lives. Richie decided to go into the lawn business part time in addition to working in NYC, and finishing our home. That became a full time business in 1978. Leisure Lawns Inc. of Long Island is another legacy of Richie’s and is still a thriving business in Huntington. After selling Leisure Lawns in 1985 Richie established C.H.Jones, a kitchen cabinet business which he operated for the next 10 years. At that point he returned to construction in NYC for ten years before retiring in 2005.
1979 to 1983 were sad and difficult years for our family. Elisa died one month after her 9th birthday. Our third daughter, Carrie Marlene was born on our 16th wedding anniversary, September 25, 1980, but only lived for two weeks. Richie was back and forth with her in the neonatal ICU at Meadowbrook Hospital while I was recovering from an emergency C-Section at Central General Hospital. During those years I also had two miscarriages. Joy returned to Richie, Erica, and I when our fourth daughter, Christa Grace, was born on May 25, 1983. God’s grace restored our lives and helped us to move on.
Fast forward to September 25, 2012; Erica and Christa have both graduated from Muhlenberg College in Allentown PA. They are married and both have homes in Pennsylvania. Erica and Trevor have given us two wonderful grandsons, Trevor and Hunter. Christa and Kris recently gave us our third grandson, sweet, happy little Harrison. Each family has given us Golden Doodle grand-dogs, Tyler and Buddy. I cannot fail to mention our own little family of pets: Molly, Suki, and Saki, a 10 year old Black Lab and two cats who had their first birthday yesterday on our 48th wedding anniversary.
I retired from Huntington Hospital in 2008 where I had worked as an Oncology Nurse since 1991. We bought our home in the Florida Keys in 1991 and now spend most of our year in Florida. When we sold our home in Dix Hills we bought a little home in Pennsylvania to be near our children and grandchildren during parts of each year.. After retiring we took a wonderful trip back to beautiful Norway where we visited family and cruised up Norway’s west coast through the fjords. On a second trip we went to Santorini and Italy. We are in Florida now and will return to PA before Christmas for the Holidays.
I was listening to the stereo today as I was reminiscing through the past. The words of a song “Would You”, sung by George Beverley Shea made me think more deeply about all we have been through during these 48 years. The words are as follows:
Would you cherish loving arms, if you never shed a tear?
Would you welcome going home, if you’d never been away?
Would you treasure guiding hands, if you’d never been alone?
Would you value having hope, if you’d never known despair?
Would you treasure being safe, if you’d never lost your way?
Would you cherish gentle words, if you’d never been afraid?
I don’t think so, I don’t think so, I really don’t think so.
We have been blessed with 48 years of marriage; our vows and commitments to each other have never waivered. We will always remain strong for each other and for our family. We have worked hard and weathered the storms of life together. When one of us is weak, the other has to remain strong. This we will keep on doing. God’s presence is in us and around us preparing us for all that lies ahead.
Reflecting on our past helps to give us strength and hope for the future. My challenge to family and friends, whether young or old, is to reflect on your own life and spiritual journey so that you can decide to grow and move forward in your love for and walk with God. As we honor God, He honors and blesses us. “To God be the Glory”!
