Is it just us, or did the Summer of 2025 pass in a flash? Here we are in the middle of September already, with the Labor Day weekend practically a dim memory in our rear view mirror, and kids in school already! It seems like we were just getting ready for summer, and experiencing the first of the summer visitors to Ocean City, and now they’re gone, and our street is empty of cars with Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland license plates. Time really has a way of playing tricks with your mind, and the passing of the summer of 2025 was a big one!
It was a strange summer weatherize too, here at the shore. There were weeks when all it did was rain, and we felt sorry for the renters. There were weeks when the temperature was in the 90s from sunup till late at night. There were also days that the temperature was more spring or fall like than what one would expect from the summer. I guess it was a summer of, “if you don’t like the weather, just wait and it will change”…but you may not have liked that either!
Our Summer of 2025 started with the traditional start of summer, Memorial Day Weekend, but in our family it has an alternate meaning…Susie’s Birthday on May 28th! The festivities started on Tuesday May 27th when Kenny (representing his sister, brother, and brother-in-law) and I took Susie to Tomatoes for a great dinner with a great waitress that really made the night! Then, since her actual birthday was on Wednesday, the celebration continued at Charlie’s where the three of us were joined by our good friend Sue and her husband! Jim
Thursday, June 19th turned out to be International Martini Day, and Susie and I decided to dress appropriately for our visit that night to Angelo’s Fairmount Tavern.
June 29th was the date for Susie’s 2025 Free Table! All through the year, as we’re cleaning out things in the house that we no longer need, they are deposited in one of Susie’s Free Table boxes. Then on a day of her choice, she’s out early in the morning setting up tables in the driveway telling folks that Everything (except the tables) Are Free for their taking! Better than trashing the items and much easier than a Garage Sale!
July was our month for family visits, starting off early in the month with Kenny, Krissi and her husband Mike joining us for a long 4th of July weekend! They were with us for almost a week with Krissi and Mike working from Ocean City, but there was still time for some great family time, and the three siblings had time to enjoy things on the boardwalk they remember from being little kids in OC!
Then, about 10 days after Krissi, Mike, and Kenny left us, we had a wonderful visit from our oldest son Bill and our three Grandkids…Layla 11, Henry 9, and our baby, Annabelle 6! If you think we were busy with the 3 older kids, that ain’t nothing compared to the activity that our 3 Grandkids brought to our house! They arrived on Thursday afternoon and soon we were off to the Boardwalk for a night of food and fun! #1 on the list was dinner at Manco and Manco pizza on 9th Street, or as our family calls it, Hose Pizza! That name was coined in one of Bill’s earliest visits to Ocean City. His first summer here, he was 7 months old, and for the next 16 or 17 years, Ocean City was a part of each of his summers. Because they put the sauce on the pizza via a hose, it’s always been Hose Pizza since a very young Billy christened it with that name. Pizza done, it was time to head to Playland and some amusements, but first spend some quarters in their newly rebuilt arcade area! Stupid Grandpa, remembering what we did when our 3 were the age of our Grandkids, put a $20 bill into a coin changer and changed it into quarters. Have any idea how hard it is to grab $20 in quarters, and how heavy they are in your pockets??? Only after getting the change (and with Grandma following me and doing the same thing), did we realize that we could have put the $20 on a swipe card that could be used at all the games! After that, it was time to head out to the rides and into the crowds of people! Grandma and I found a place to sit, and doled out tickets, and a good time was had by all! Every one was tired by the time we got home that night!
The next day after breakfast, it was beach time! Chairs, toys and our Cool Cabana were packed into the beach wagon, and the D’Elia Family headed to Pennlyn Beach! After a great day at the beach, it was time for an early dinner at Charlie’s, and then some front porch games and relaxation.
Saturday dawned a bit crummy with some scattered showers, but as soon as the rain stopped, Billy, Layla, and Henry decided to walk the boardwalk. Annabelle voted to stay with Grandma and me at home, and Grandma dug out one of her old stand by rainy day at the beach activities, Painting Shells! Annabelle and Grandma had a great time and later in the day we joined the rest of the group on the boardwalk! This was the day that the kids had to get some Ocean City Merch (as they called it), and then they all wanted to play Mini Golf! No matter how many shots she took, when asked what she got on a hole, 6 year old Annabelle always said “One,” which didn’t go over great with the 9 and 11 year olds. As we approached the 15th hole, I told Billy, “Now I remember why I hated playing mini golf with you and your sister and brother when you three were little!” After golf, it was a required visit to the Surf Mall and some more Merch purchases, before Grandma and I called it quits and headed home! That night, some Chinese take-out that the kids wanted for dinner, then Billy and the kids headed to Playland for their last night in town!
They left early on Sunday as they headed back to North Carolina and Grandma and I went into rehab mode!
Having Grandkids is a wonderful thing, and we dearly love spending time with our 3. The problem is that when our 3 kids were little, their Grandparents lived minutes away on Long Island, and were in their lives multiple times a month. Things are different today, and our three Grandkids live in North Carolina, while we live in New Jersey, so the time we get to spend with them is precious to us! The good thing is that no matter how long between visits, as soon as we are with Layla (10 going on 16), Henry (9), and Annabelle (5), we all immediately fall into a comfortable Grandparent/Grandkid vibe.
The plan this time was to get to their place at 4:00 after they got home from school. We were going to hang out with them for a bit, stay with Henry and Annabelle while our son took oldest Granddaughter Layla to Drama, and then take off for dinner. That was the plan at least, but the plan didn’t take into consideration that it was about 6:00 on a Friday night, and lots of people had the same idea. Our first stop was a favorite Italian place of the kids, but the wait there was at least 30 minutes, and probably more. Next we were off to a Mexican place, but we couldn’t even find a parking place there. Billy had to pick up Layla at 8:30, and we’d used up a lot of that time driving around trying other places. We tried an Applebees near her Drama class, and although there were lots of empty tables, they had no staff to wait on these tables, so it was at least 45 minutes to wait! The last resort was a Chili’s near our hotel, and after a short wait to clean a table, they sat us down! Adults were getting hungry, kids were getting hangry, and it was almost time to get Layla, but all worked out and the evening was saved!
The plan for the start on Saturday was to attend one of Henry’s hockey practices. This 9 year old kid is a wonder on ice skates, and eats, sleeps, and breaths ice hockey. This year he’s transitioned to the goalie position, and is a stand-out! Our son Bill is a coach and they have some really great shared Dad/Son times with hockey! Our youngest Annabelle decided she’d join Grandma and Grandpa at the hockey rink, and we made sure to bundle her up. Susie and I have learned, and now have a designated hockey bag that comes with us to NC full of all manner of warming things!
After the practice, we had some time and the two of us headed to Aldi to buy some Aldi wine that we like to bring home, then it was off to a local Brewery with the kids and some neighbors and hockey friends that we really like! Adam and Courtney are two great people, and along with their kids Violet and Crosby, we were so glad to get to spend some time with them. Adam’s folks were there too. and it was great to meet them! Billy and Adam coached a team last year, and they are on an adult team that plays weekly. Crosby and Henry are fast friends, and Violet and Layla have played soccer together. We met some new friends too and it was great couple of hours!
Saturday night it was family time and time to finally celebrate Christmas with our kids! The kids had Billy leave the tree up, and there were lots of presents surrounding it. The kids always get money in their College Funds from us, but when you’re a kid, nobody cares about college money, so there are always presents too! We’d brought a bucket of Wings from Charlie’s in Somers Point, Billy ordered pizza and a great time was had by all! The hit of the night was this floating ball that Susie picked up for Henry at Sam’s Club. We went home happy that we’d finally had Christmas with the kids and ready for sleep because Sunday was starting early!
And by early, I mean the alarm going off at 5:30 AM in our room because at 6:30 Henry had a hockey game! We dragged ourselves out of bed, and by 6:30 we were sitting the in bleachers ready to cheer on Henry’s team. They needed a few extra players, so Crosby was playing with Henry and Adam was there to cheer the boys on. No other grandchildren attended with us!
Henry’s team won the game by a 3-2 score and Henry got a lot of great saves. After waiting to see Bill and Henry after the game, we headed back to our hotel to “relax!” After several hours of watching some TV and taking a long shower, we were ready to head to another ice rink, and another practice to watch Henry and Bill in action! This time the girls were along, because after the practice, it was time for us to have some alone time with the girls!
(pics)
Both Layla and Annabelle had gotten Target gift cards for Christmas, and were anxious to do some shopping, so that was our first stop. I got Annabelle to pronounce it “Targeé” and she got a kick out of that. Layla is quite a good shopper and she got a lot for her money, while Annabelle is a 5 year old and had some trouble making a decision, but she was happy ultimately with her purchases! Then it was off to the hotel for some fun! Dinner was at McDonald’s and it was successful with Annabelle eating everything she ordered!
Sunday was a school night, so after Mickey D’s, it was home and time to get into PJs and wait for Dad and Henry to get home! A lot of activity in a jam packed weekend with our North Carolina Family! Till next time.
Miriam Webster defines the word anniversary as follows:
Anniversary noun the annual recurrence of a date marking a notable event
Well in the D’Elia Household this week we think we have 2 recurrences of what we think are notable events.
Today is January 28th, 2025, and on January 28th, 2005, we became the owners of the first floor of 854 Pennlyn Place! If you read the story about our recent trip to Las Vegas, you know that we owned a house there, made a large profit on that house when we sold it, and that profit was the down payment for our Ocean City home! Having sold the Las Vegas house in the fall of 2004, when we came down to Ocean City for the week between Christmas and New Year, we were prepared to house hunt. It was only when we started house hunting on our summer vacation in August of 2004 that we discovered the North End of Ocean City, having never really been aware of the island north of 9th Street. Perhaps it was Kismet, but when we came down that winter, we rented on Pennlyn Place. Our Realtor, Ray, showed us several properties up and down the island, but we fell in love with 854 Pennlyn. We saw the place on December 28th, decided shortly after that it was the one for us, made an offer that was accepted, and off we went.
The closing was scheduled for Friday, January 28th, so we drove down the night before and stayed in Atlantic City. The next morning we drove to the house and unloaded some things we’d brought, and at 10 AM we met at the title company on West Avenue. Before noon, all the papers were signed and notarized and when we returned to 854, it was as the new owners of the first floor. A dream we thought just months before was out of our grasp was now reality. We owned a house in Ocean City, New Jersey!
Our original intent was to keep the place for a couple of years, and as prices escalated, to flip to a better property and then another better property, but we got to know Pennlyn Place, and that plan went out the window The very next morning, I was on the front porch and met our next door neighbor, Doc Anderson. Over the years we’ve met so many neighbors and so many of them have become friends. There’s been 20 years of nights out to dinner, 20 years of parties, and 20 years of nights on the front porch with friends. The truth is that we’d be hard pressed to leave 854 Pennlyn. Yes, over the 20 years people have come and gone, but they’ve been replaced by new people. Susie is very sure that this is our forever home, and it would be hard to argue her point!
The second of “the annual recurrence of a date marking a notable event” that we celebrate this week is tomorrow, Wednesday, January 29th. You see, it was the morning of Friday, January 29th, 2016 that I last stood on the Mineola Long Island Rail Road platform and waited for the train to take me to Penn Station. I started at ABC as a member of the WABC/WPLJ Engineering Department in 1976, and 40 years later, on January 29th, 2016, I retired. 9 years ago I joined Susie in the wonderful world of retirement, and she’s still putting up with me!
So one anniversary of a beginning this week, and one of an end….
We’ve just come back from a fabulous week in Las Vegas and I have my wonderful wife, and 3 of our kids to thank for the trip. Way back in August, I was informed by Susie, our daughter Krissi, her twin brother Kenny, and Krissi’s husband Mike, that in honor of my upcoming 75th birthday, they were going to take me to Las Vegas to celebrate! After discussing dates and everybody’s life schedule, it was decided that we’d arrive on the 12th, as that was 10 days after my actual 75th birthday, and the kids would take the red-eye home on Wednesday the 15th, with Susie and I staying till that Friday. We had months to go and plan, but before we knew it Summer was over, Thanksgiving and Christmas came and went, my birthday was here on January 2nd, and the trip was just 10 days away. Now it was real and we went into travel mode, re-checking reservations, grabbing our suitcases at the storage place, and deciding what to take. At the last minute, Mike’s boss decided that they needed to have a meeting in Vegas, so he flew out a couple of days early. On the morning of January 12th, the four of us (Krissi and Kenny in New York and Susie and I in Ocean City) got up way too early and prepared to head to Las Vegas! Here are some highlights of the trip, because if I detailed everything we did, you’d still be reading this on my 76th birthday!
SUNDAY
We were fortunate to be able to use miles we had to reserve round trip First Class seats to Vegas on American Airlines. Although we’d driven to Philly every time we’d flown since moving to OC, this time we were trying something different. We were booked directly from Atlantic City International Airport to Las Vegas…..but how you ask? American Airlines had begun bus service from various regional airports to Philly. The trip was booked like a connecting flight, but leg one was in a luxury bus with the American logo on the side. The only wrinkle was that we got to Atlantic City’s Airport a little after 4 AM, but the American folks didn’t show till 5 AM! Oh well, there was nothing we could do about it at this point, so we waited till he got there, checked our bags in to Las Vegas, went through our TSA Screening, and waited for the bus at the assigned gate. The ride to the Philly airport was fast and trouble free (it was still dark on a Sunday morning) and we arrived in plenty of time to make our “connecting flight”. Having gone through TSA Screening in AC, we had no need to do it again. The bus actually drives on the field, dodging planes that are parked and taxiing, and drops you off right next to the shuttle to other terminals. From one bus to another and quickly from Terminal F to Terminal A and our flight to Las Vegas! This was so super easy, and it is something we’d definitely take advantage of if we fly again. The flight was great, with an excellent Mexican Egg Enchilada breakfast and several Cranberry and Vodkas, and before we knew it, we were starting our decent into Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport.
Kenny and Krissi’s flight from JFK had gotten in about a half hour before us, and we met them in the baggage claim area. They parked the old folks in a couple of seats, and proceeded to collect our two suitcases, and then the 4 of us headed out of the terminal and boarded the Rental Car Shuttle Bus. We picked up our BMW SUV, and in no time we were driving down the Strip on our way to our hotel, Paris. We’d chosen Paris because of it’s mid-strip location, and the fact that all of us could get rooms for just the cost of the Resort Fee and Taxes (just out $50). During the check-in process, the young lady wondered if we’d like to upgrade to a suite. “How much?” we asked. When she replied $285 we said, “No Thanks!” When she said $85, we said yes. We had a lovely one bedroom suite with a living room, two bathrooms, and a view of the Eiffel Tower and the fountains of the Bellagio across Las Ve
After we were all checked in and settled in our rooms, we met in the casino and had our first drinks in Las Vegas at Le Central Bar.
After drinks, and a visit to a few slot machines, we were hungry, so we visited Bobby Flay’s Burger Bar for a bite to eat. Later that evening, a long time friend of Kenny’s, and a Vegas resident, Megan, along with her husband Daniel paid us a visit. We ended up in Vanderpump à Paris, which according to the kids, is a bar/restaurant owned by some reality TV star. All we knew was that it had a nice atmosphere and would be good for conversation. The kids were additionally excited that our waiter was somebody’s son, and had also been featured on this reality show. Don’t ask us…..
After a couple of more drinks, the older folks were tired and headed to bed, leaving the night to the young!
MONDAY
Monday in Vegas was a special day among special days! 20 years ago, on the occasion of our 25th Wedding Anniversary, Susie and I, along with our great friends Pat and Steve Grosskopf, flew to Las Vegas, and at the Chapel of the Bells Wedding Chapel (the place where Clark and Ellen Griswold renewed their vow in Vegas Vacation), we renewed our vows. Susie got the bright idea that since we’d just celebrated our 45 Wedding Anniversary back on September 29th, and with 3 of our kids in attendance, we should once again renew our vows. With Krissi as the Matron of Honor and Kenny as the Best Man, and Mike as our witness, for the second time at the Chapel of the Bells, we renewed our Wedding Vows.
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It was a lovely service, and afterwards we adjourned to our suite at the hotel for a sparking wine toast! Later that night, we Uberred to Lawry’s Prime Rib for some martinis and a wonderful dinner. Susie and I have been there, as had Kenny, but Krissi and Mike were Lawry’s virgins. We had a couple of great martinis in their beautiful bar, and an excellent dinner with wonderful food and a great waiter. We’d been singing this place’s praises to Krissi and Mike for weeks, and after dinner, when I asked Mike if I’d oversold Lawry’s, he said that on the contrary, I’d undersold it! It was a great night with Kenny taking care of transportation and drinks, and Krissi and Mike picking up the dinner bill! Krissi and Mike told us that they tried to get our oldest Billy to join us as a surprise, but with his family and work situation, it was impossible.
TUESDAY
Tuesday was reserved for downtown/Fremont Street. We tried to get a cab for all 5 of us, but the doorman said there were no large cabs in the line, and two cabs would be about $56. For $60 we took a party van, (Krissi’s a good negotiator) and a good time was had by all! We toured various casinos, won and lost some money, had some drinks, and ended the adventure with a couple of cheeseburgers each from White Castle! What a great day!
We had the party van drop us off at the Horseshoe casino next door to Paris, and after some gambling (and winning – “put a dollar in, win a car”), we adjourned to Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Sports Kitchen.
Everybody enjoyed their meal, and once again it was time for Mom and Dad to call it a night, and leave the fun to our three younger partners.
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday was a sad day because it was the kids last day in Vegas, but we still had some fun! Back in 2003, Susie and I got the idea that someday we might want to retire to Las Vegas. With this in mind, with the help of our friend Sharon, we bought a house in Vegas. We picked out the model, the lot it was to be built on, and all the finishes and appliances. 3 months later, the build on 10423 Gwynns Falls St. was completed, and although the plans were to rent it out, we decided that we were going to be the first people to sleep in the house. We shipped a king sized aerobed to Sharon, and spent 3 nights living there before we rented it out. We timed it right, and land values in Vegas skyrocketed. We rented the house out for the entire time we owned it (paying our costs) and sold the house 22 months later for a profit of about $135,000. That profit became the downpayment on our Ocean City house, so this Vegas house in a very real way led to us purchasing our now forever home! I’ve told you that story so I could tell you that we started Wednesday by getting the car from the Valet at Paris, and we drove out to visit our house.
The area had grown greatly in the past 22 years, but we were able to find the house. We drove the neighborhood, took some pictures and then headed off to our second stop of the day, an early lunch at In-N-Out Burger.
In-N-Out Burger is a West Coast only chain that we’ve known about for the last 20+ years. During that time, anytime we’ve made a trip to California or Nevada, the trip has included at least one stop at an In-N-Out. In 2016, when we drove across the country after I retired, we even found one in Idaho! The last time we’d eaten here was about 7 years ago, so a stop was a necessity, and we chose one near the Vegas house on Eastern Avenue. Susie and I ordered Double Doubles Animal Style and Animal Style Fries well done and a couple of drinks. I’m sad to say that we were not (nor were the kids) blown away by the food. Perhaps the hype over the past 7 years has been too much, or the quality has changed, or our taste has changed, but Susie said she’d rather have had a Big Mac and frankly the fries stunk! To be brutally honest, I enjoyed the White Castle cheese burgers the night before on Fremont Street better!
After a disappointing lunch, we headed to another one of our favorites, Green Valley Ranch for some more gambling! We marveled how the area around the casino has grown since we first came here 20+ years ago, and gambled for an hour of so alongside and apart from the kids. Having had enough of our adventure for the day, we loaded into the car, and drove back to Paris.
Wednesday’s evening meal would be our last with the kids, and we decided to go back to Vanderpump’s. We were shown to a great private table in the back of the restaurant, ordered some drinks and an assortments of some wonderful finger foods, and thoroughly enjoyed our last meal together!
With still some time to kill before the kids had to head off to the airport, we returned to our room, and had a rousing game of Texas Hold-em with Mike serving as the dealer and using another deck of cards as chips. We had some drinks, enjoyed the cards, and our time together till we said our goodbyes, and Krissi, Mike, and Kenny headed off to the airport.
THURSDAY
Now with just the two of us, Susie and I had plans to visit one of our favorite places in Las Vegas, Red Rock Canyon. 25 years ago, on our first trip to Vegas, we’d explored the canyon, and it was a place that we have visited virtually every time we’ve been to Vegas! It frankly was the place we fell in love with in the Las Vegas desert and probably the inspiration for even thinking we might enjoy retirement there. Luckily for us, our friend Eileen was in Vegas the week before us, and through her Facebook posts discovered that you now needed a reservation to tour the canyon, so I went on line and secured one for 1 PM on Thursday afternoon.
Thursday morning we got the car and headed around the 215 Beltway to one of our favorite Hotel/Casinos, located just down the road from Red Rock. Red Rock Resort and Casino is about as far away from the Las Vegas Strip as you can get and still be in Vegas and we love it. The first time we went to Red Rock Canyon the hotel wasn’t even there yet, but it’s now one of our favorite destinations. We started with an early lunch in the Coffee Shop, and then killed some time gambling before we headed off to the canyon for our 1 o’clock reservation. As I said, we’ve visited the canyon many times, and have even brought friends there over the years. The main thing we are interested in is the 13 mile scenic loop, and within no time, off we went.
After taking a little more than an hour on the loop, we headed back to Red Rock Resort to play a few more games of chance, we returned to Paris to think about packing our suitcase and to have dinner at the Cafe Americano.
FRIDAY
Friday was our last day, as we were scheduled to take the red-eye back to first Philadelphia and then on to Atlantic City and home. We checked out and left the hotel about 10 AM, and decided to have breakfast at a Nevada place we’d first been to in Reno, Peg’s Glorious Ham and Eggs. We decided to take advantage of their menu and take a brief trip back to Hawaii and both enjoyed Loco Moco, a dish we’d first had at Oahu’s Rainbow Cafe. We enjoyed it a lot!
Then, after filling the rental car with gas, we returned to Red Rock Resort, where we’d decided to spend the rest of the day. Now this resort in addition to a hotel and casino, and a bunch of restaurants also has a bowling alley and a 12 screen movie theater. No, we didn’t go bowling, but after gambling and having some luck for a couple of hours, we bought tickets and throughly enjoyed the movie Wicked!
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It was a great last day, but it was time to head home, so after the movie we grabbed a bite at the resort’s food court (Orange Chicken and Fried Rice at Panda Express), hit the bathrooms, and headed back to the Vegas Car Rental Center, and the shuttle bus back to Terminal 1.
The flight to Philly, the transfer between terminals, and the bus back to Atlantic City worked perfectly, and early on Saturday morning we were reunited with our brand new Honda CRV, in the parking garage at the AC airport, and were on our way home!
It was a great trip, a wonderful way to celebrate the 75th anniversary of my birth, and just so special to renew our vows with Kenny, Krissi and Mike in attendance. Thanks to our great kids and my wonderful wife for coming up with the idea, and then being part of this adventure!
This little boy is our youngest son Kenny, at one of our early Carnevale celebrations at our home in Mineola. For point of reference, he’s now 36 years old
While they most definitely have been celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and will continue to do it into tonight, in Italy the celebration of the days before Ash Wednesday and Lent are a big deal too. Celebrated all over Italy, in Naples, where my Dad’s Family is from, the days leading up to “Fat Tuesday” will feature parades, elaborate costumes, and gluttonous feasts as a way to counter balance the stark period of Lenten fasting. Called Carnevale in Italy, that name comes from the term “Carnem Levare“, which roughly translates to “take meat away.”
While we didn’t have masks and multi day parades, the celebration of Carnevale in our house when I was growing up always included an Italian meal on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Sadly, the tradition in our family ended with my Dad’s death, till one year in the late 80s, my wife Susie and I decided to revive it. That first year, shopping was quickly done and cooking commenced when I got home from work, and our guest list was limited to our family. In subsequent years, the preparation, menu, decorations, and guest list expanded, and it became a way for our family to honor the memory of my Dad.
Once we both retired, there were many years we were not home on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, so our celebration of Carnevale was reduced to dinner at an Italian restaurant or even just pizza! For some reason, this year we decided to revive the tradition!
We started with beef, pork, boneless chicken thighs, and sweet Italian sausage, which was browned in olive oil, and then lovingly placed in our scratch made tomato sauce to simmer for a couple of hours. Paper thin Pork Cutlets from Bagliani’s were stuffed with my Stuffed Mushroom stuffing, rolled up, and browned. They were than placed in a casserole dish with a generous portion of the aforementioned sauce, in preparation for their final cooking in the oven. These beautiful meats, along with the sauce they helped create, will be served with imported rigatoni pasta (because none of our pasta companies seem to remember how to make real rigatoni), and accompanied with garlic bread, and imported Chianti wine!
As well as helping me cook, Susie has set a beautiful table, and although our celebration will be small this year (just us and our neighbor Doc Anderson), Carnevale is back in our home, as well as memories, almost as tasty as tonight’s food!
The Christmas Tree is perhaps the one universal symbol of the Christmas Season, and has been the centerpiece of our Christmas celebration for all our lives. If you read my recent blog about Christmas Memories (https://rnewadventures.com/2022/12/12/christmas-in-the-city/) you may remember me saying that in our family, the tradition was that your folks put up the tree and that Santa decorated it, and that was indeed the tradition till it wasn’t, but it spawned a new tradition, making the decorating of the Christmas Tree an event. I remember back in our Jackson Heights apartment sharing the task with my best friend David, and some friends we both went to high school with. When we moved to Bayside, the tradition was expanded to include even more folks. Some were people I went to college with and others were folks I worked with. It just became another occasion and a way to celebrate the joy of the holiday season, with family and friends who were like family.
In a comment about my last post, my college friend Andy Bellenkes said “I rejoice in the memories I cherish, celebrating a Christmas or two with the D’Elias, watching your Dad put up the lights along the roof line of your house, sitting with you, your Mom and Dad (and others whose identities at the moment I cannot recall) in the living room and feeling the familial warmth and friendship that in my memories so characterized your home.” Even after Susie and I got married, we continued this tradition at my folks house.
Here’s a picture from my folk’s house in Bayside, at what was Billy’s first Christmas Tree decorating at his Grandparent’s home. An evening populated with good friends I worked with at ABC.
That baby in my arms is just born William Ryan D’Elia, who now is the father of our
three Grandkids. The little girl in front of my Mom is Melinda McGuire Geraghty,
now the Mom of two adorable little people.
As our kids got older, we also continued the tradition at our Mineola house. Some years there were friends of the kids involved, sometimes it was just family, but it was always an event. The holiday toasting flutes would be brought out, the André would be poured, and somehow the tree would always get decorated! I must admit that I am married to a lady with a sort of Christmas Tree Ornament OCD, who would often times rearrange the ornaments after they’d been placed on the tree (especially when the kids were small, and couldn’t reach that high), but we never objected! It’s a tradition of ours that started in New Hyde Park, traveled with us to Mineola, and now resides on Pennlyn Place in Ocean City!
And then there were the ornaments themselves that had become a D’Elia Family Tradition! There were a few things that came from our folks, that Susie and I remember seeing on the trees we had growing up, giving us a kind of time continuum from our childhood. Then there are ornaments that have memories attached to them from our 44 married Christmases, either from places we bought them or from events in our life. Although our tree is beautiful to us, it’s not a designer tree, with carefully curated ornaments! It’s a road map of our family, and our 44 Christmases!
So there you have it…the story of one family’s Christmas Tree, and the central part it has played in our holiday celebration!
As Susie and I sit here in Ocean City on this Christmas Eve, and look at the 44th edition of Our Family’s Christmas Tree, we think back on all our wonderful Christmas memories from Christmases past, and we reflect on the blessings of Christmas that we’ve experienced. We hope that this Christmas finds you feeling blessed, and knowing that you are loved by those in your life! Merry Christmas……
Well, it’s that time of the year, when Hallmark and almost all other networks are hot and heavy into Christmas movies. Watching them recently has made me think about Christmases way back in the 50s when I was a kid.
My Mom’s due date was just before Christmas of 1949, but apparently I had other ideas, so I missed what could have been my first Christmas, and cheated my Dad out of a tax deduction on their 1949 taxes. At 9:15 PM, on Monday, January 2nd, 1950, I was born at Physician’s Hospital in Jackson Heights, New York. It was a neighborhood hospital that has since closed, in the Queens neighborhood that my folks lived in, and that I grew up in. If it’s possible to say this in New York City, I was born in my home town. My Mom, Lilias Chalmers Sim D’Elia was 33 years old, and my Dad, Frank Vincent D’Elia was 39 years old at the time of my birth. Both of my folks were members of New York’s Metropolitan Opera Chorus, and from her stories, this was a very different time for mothers-to-be in the workforce. Being concerned about losing her job because of her pregnancy, my Mom worked every day from the time she found out she was pregnant till I showed up. In fact, Saturday, December 31st, she did both a matinee and an evening show at the Met, and less than 48 hours later, I joined the family, and made my Mom and Dad first time parents.
The story I always heard was that when my folks got married in 1947, they were lucky to get a sublet apartment from a friend in Jackson Heights, as apparently in post World War II NYC, apartments in their price range were not easy to come by. It was a 4th floor walkup apartment in one of Jackson Height’s many Garden Apartment complexes. It had been a somewhat fancy one bedroom, one bath apartment in it’s day. It even had a dining room, and looked out over what had been manicured gardens. That dining room became my bedroom, the gardens became overgrown and neglected, and the neighborhood changed, but we lived in that sublet apartment until I was 18 years old, when we moved to Bayside. Our apartment was just slightly off Roosevelt Avenue on 84th Street, so a feature of the apartment was also the #7 elevated line running by the windows! The 82nd Street stop of the #7 train was just a 2 block walk away, and my folks could be at the Met just off Times Square in Manhattan after a 20 minute ride, so it was a very convenient distance away from work for them and it was the first home I knew.
I’ve seen lots of pictures over the years, so don’t really know when I actually start remembering Christmases, but think it was probably about 1953. Our apartment in Jackson Heights was pretty good sized, but the living room also contained a baby grand piano, a big console TV/Radio/Record Player, a large mahogany dish hutch, a couch, coffee table, an armchair, and a small pump organ. I’m sure the furniture worked out better when they’d had a dining room, but my arrival had taken that out of the equation, but we always had space for a Christmas tree…a real tree
Now, you may ask, did we drive out into the country (that would have been Long Island) and cut our tree down? Well, my Dad was a product of growing up in NYC, and didn’t even get a driver’s license till after I was born, and a car was several years later, so no. In those days in Queens, you got a tree in the neighborhood, either at an establishment that had popped up in a vacant lot, or you bought one that was leaning up against the front of the A&P or Dilberts grocery stores around the corner on Roosevelt Avenue. It was just like in the movies, but our trees never came with a wooden X on the bottom! My Mom and Dad would then carry it home, up the four flights of stairs to our apartment. I don’t know where the tradition came from, but the tradition in our house when I was growing up was that your folks put the tree up, but Santa was the one who decorated it. I remember one incredible year when it seemed to be magically decorated in minutes, but I’m sure I’d probably fallen asleep, and it just seemed like minutes! Ahhh, that Santa!
Speaking of Santa, a visit with the jolly round man was always a part of my holiday, usually at Macy’s on 34th Street, sometimes between a Met matinee and evening show. My memories are of that Toyland/Santa Village being as grand and incredible as it always looks in movies, and the toy department in Macy’s being huge. From large Lionel Train layouts, to every new toy you could think of! Of course, without the internet, we were a lot less informed than I’m sure our three Grandkids are today, but somehow, we knew about the latest from Remco, AC Gilbert, American Flyer, Lionel, or Fisher-Price, and they were always on our Christmas Lists.
One of my first Christmases, “Santa” brought me a red pedal fire engine, that I enjoyed for many years. This was also the first of the “problem” gifts I received at Christmas! Late this Christmas Eve, after my folks had done an evening performance at the Met, they opened what must have been a huge box, to assemble the truck. As my Dad put it together (probably with my Mom reading him the directions), he made an unfortunate discovery! There were only 3 wheels in the box! My Dad, ever resourceful, figuring that I should at least be able to sit in it on Christmas morning, fashioned an empty cigar box as a substitute wheel. FYI…before they went to sleep early on Christmas morning, they discovered that the missing wheel had rolled out of the box and was lodged behind the couch….Christmas was saved!
Christmas morning I found that Santa had set up a Lionel freight train under the tree, and that became a valued D’Elia Family heirloom. With a Pennsylvania Railroad steam engine (that actually puffed smoke) with coal tender, and then a box car, tanker car, gondola car, and ending in a light-up caboose, it made many passes around that tree until it eventually years later became a part of my yearly train set-up. That same little old Lionel train also made many revolutions around Susie’s and my tree in Mineola, and got to be played with by our three kids, and today it resides in North Carolina with our oldest son Bill, so the next generation of D’Elia kids can marvel at 1953 Lionel excellence!
Oh, and the presents I remember, besides that Lionel Train set. There seemed to be lots of building toys, like sets of Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, Erector Sets, and I remember getting them all, and building incredible edifices. There were trikes and as I got older bikes (one that I couldn’t try on Christmas Day, because Santa had gotten a defective version). There were lots of Dinky Toys, and there were accessories for my trains. One year, the hot present was a slot racing set, a Lionel version of which I found under the tree…but only one car worked Christmas morning! There were also two-way radios, a crystal radio set, and other small electronics that probably were my early entry into my life in radio, but that was as far the electronic’s industry entered into those early Christmases of my life…so different from our kids and Grandkids! One “electronic” game I remembered getting was Tudor Electric Football Game! You set up the players on the field, plugged in the cord, turned it on, and a motor vibrated the playing field, and the players “magically” moved across the field…but not necessarily in the correct direction! I remember that one year I got a kid’s version of the very popular Polaroid Camera – magic! Then there were the “toys” that might seem questionable looking back from today’s world view. Things like my AC Gilbert Chemistry Set, where if you closely followed the instructions, you could produce a test tube full of truly noxious smelling material, with an odor that took days for your mother to get out of the apartment. Or the Wood Burning Kit, that allowed a young child to use a soldering iron type of tool to burn designs into balsa wood! But the worst had to be the Lead Soldier Kit, that came with molds, little lead bars, and a little plug-in electric hot plate and pot that you used to turn the bars into molten lead, that you then poured into the molds to make the soldiers. Today, that would be a lawsuit waiting to happen!
One of my main Christmas Eve memories, that I’m sure started as a convenience for my Mom and Dad long ago, is a tradition of long standing in our family. Now remember, most Christmas Eves my Mom and Dad would be getting home after 11 PM, having just done at least one opera performance (and 2 if the Eve fell on Saturday). Sometime, before I was aware of it, they started having their own quiet time celebration as they decorated the tree, assembled gifts, and set everything up. There was some food and a drink or two as they both played Santa for me (amazing how Santa and my Mom had such similar hand writing). When I got older and got to participate, the tradition became Italian Cold Cut Sandwiches and André Champagne, before I’d scurry off to bed, to get up way too early. Eventually, the opening the presents part of Christmas became a part of that Christmas Eve celebration too, as then on Christmas morning I could get up as early as I wanted to play with my gifts, while my folks could get some shut-eye, as they probably had to do a show that night! Now, we don’t open presents on Christmas Eve, but the tradition of Italian Cold Cut Sandwiches and André was a staple of our kids growing up, was something we continued to do as they became young adults, and is still something Susie and I still do, as do the kids in their own homes! It’s something that Kenny has even tried to duplicate when he’s been away from home performing on Christmas Eve, either on National Tours or even Cruise Ships! Funny how Family Traditions sometimes get started, and then endure!
So I’ll be thinking of my folks, and the Christmases of my childhood, and all those wonderful Christmas memories as we eat our sandwiches this December 24th, and probably shedding a tear or two thinking back to when I was a kid, and when Billy, Krissi and Kenny were little too! Christmas is a time for memories, and Susie and I are very blessed to have so many wonderful ones, shared with family and friends that are like family…people that we truly love! Hope you get to bathe in your Christmas memories this year, and even make some new ones! To quote the immortal words and sentiment of Clement Moore’s classic story, The Night Before Christmas………
“Happy Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night!”
September 29th in the year 1979 was a Saturday. I know that because that afternoon, at the C.W. Post Interfaith Chapel, Susan Johnson became Susan Johnson D’Elia, and my life changed forever! The story of how we ended up there started years before, but really got guidance a little over 2 years earlier, on the afternoon of July 3rd, 1977, when both Susie and I were guests at an early July 4th party in the back yard of Mary Ann and Bill Epperhart’s house in Oyster Bay. Sue knew Mary Ann as they both worked at Glen Cove Hospital as Registered Nurses, and Bill and I had been friends since we met years earlier at WCWP, The College Radio Station of C.W. Post College. There’s that CW Post connection again!
So, to continue our story, let’s go all the way back to the fall of 1967, when as a 17 high school graduate, I started as a commuter freshman at C.W. Post College. I wasn’t a great student, and really had no idea where I was going in life, which is why in short order I was a Theater Arts major, an English Major, a Philosophy Major, and a Political Science major, before finally settling on being a Music Major. Along the way, thanks to a class I had to take, I got involved at the college radio station, and as stories like to say, “the rest is history.”
Meanwhile, the young lady I was going to make my wife 43 years ago today, knew she wanted to be a nurse practically from the moment she was born it seems. Her early life lead up to it with Candy Striper and other volunteer jobs, and working at Nursing Homes, until finally after graduating from high school, she enrolled in the Pilgrim State Hospital School of Nursing on her way to getting her RN. There was lots of hands on learning at the hospital, but for their academic classes they were bused to C.W. Post College, and there’s that connection again!
As Susie is 2 years younger than I am, after meeting we discovered that we’d both been at Post at the same time! After 4 years of college, I graduated in the Spring of 1971, while Susie graduated from the 3 year program at Pilgrim in 1972. While we’d never met, nor to the best of our knowledge had we ever seen each other, the real possibility exists that during those couple of years that we both walked on the Brookville Campus, we might have passed each other, and that was our C.W. Post connection!
So, after that July 3rd, 1977 party, Susie and I were definitely an item. I think the description “Love at First Sight” could indeed be applied to us, and it only took me getting my permanent job at ABC Radio for me to take the leap, and on Christmas Day, 1978 ask her to marry me! In case you’re wondering, she said yes, and the planning began! The first hurdle was where to get married. Susie was raised a Protestant and I a Catholic. The question was how could we honor both of our families’ history, and answer was very easy for us….The Interfaith Chapel at C.W. Post! It was a lovely building, in a beautiful setting, on the college campus we’d both traveled while in school! Connection complete!
On the afternoon of Saturday September 29, 1979, at the Interfaith Chapel, with a Catholic Priest and a Protestant Minister officiating, in front of our family and friends, we joined two lives into one, and this great adventure we’ve had the past 43 years started! My life has been blessed every single day since then, because this wonderful lady is my lover, my best friend, my teacher, really, my EVERYTHING! Thanks for saying “I Do” 43 years ago today, I thank God every night for bringing you into my life! I love you more each day, and will love you forever and here’s to another 43 years of love together!!!
HAPPY 43rd ANNIVERSARY TO THE LOVE OF MY LIFE!
FYI..unlike the usual occurrence in this blog, Susan Johnson D’Elia did zero proof reading on today’s story. Any and all mistakes are exclusively the fault of yours truly.
I first wrote this blog several years after the 9/11 Attacks, and over the past 21 years, I have revised and republished it several times. The following is my latest revision of our personal memories of that day we’d all really rather forget, when our world changed forever.
Anyone who was just about anywhere in the New York Metropolitan area on the morning of September 11, 2001, will always remember that day, and where they were. I know in our family that’s the case. My wife Sue was at work at Hampton Street School in Mineola. Our oldest son Billy was in his second year at Ithaca College, and his brother and sister, Krissi and Kenny, were sophomores at Mineola High School. I was at work at WABC Radio, 17 floors above Penn Station.
I remember it was a great looking, if uneventful, September morning. There was just a touch of fall in the air – it was one of those special kinds of days we get after the humidity of summer leaves. I was, as usual, on the 7:24 LIRR train from Mineola to Penn Station. Just before the train entered the tunnel under the East River to take us from Queens to Manhattan, we got our usual view of the Manhattan Skyline. The Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and the Twin Towers…they were all there. As I said, a totally uneventful September morning in all respects….but that was soon to change.
Shortly after the first plane hit at 8:46 AM, word started to come into the newsroom that a plane had hit the World Trade Center’s North Tower. It was primary day in New York, and there were reporters around the city for the various TV morning shows. Almost immediately, Dick Oliver of Channel 5 went on the air from Park Row, just outside of City Hall. They weren’t the best shots, but you definitely could see the fire and damage to the tower. Everyone assumed that it was a small plane that had hit and no one could understand how someone could have missed seeing a structure as big as the World Trade Center on a beautiful, clear morning. There was speculation of a student pilot, or someone who had a heart attack – just about anything but what had really happened, which up until that point was unthinkable to most of us.
By 9 o’clock, better pictures of the damage were available on TV, including long shots of the buildings from further uptown. Just before 9:03 AM, I was standing in studio 17E next to Chief Engineer Kevin Plumb, when we noticed a plane flying into the frame of the shot. Assuming we were looking at a small plane trying to get a better view of what was happening, one of us commented, “what the heck is that plane trying to do?” At 9:03 we were shocked when we saw that plane (which we later found out was a Boeing 767) crash into the South Tower and explode in a ball of flames. At the same moment, Susie was standing in the Teacher’s Lounge of Hampton Street School, next to a good friend, Midge McInnes. When that second plane hit, Midge lost her brother who worked in the tower at just about the level the plane hit. In that moment, everyone who saw that happen live, knew that life as we had known it up until that moment was over, and that there was a brand new reality.
I remember all hell breaking loose at the station as we all went into high gear. There was an incredible amount of misinformation flying around, and frankly, open fear from some. Many tried to act professionally, but since no one knew exactly what was going on, and since we were all working 17 floors above Penn Station and a couple of blocks west of the Empire State Building, we frankly wondered if we might be in the target zone for future attacks. The next hour was a blur of news reports, discussion and speculation. Shortly after the first plane hit, our morning anchor George Weber took off downtown armed with a cell phone and a recorder. He phoned in a couple of reports about what he was seeing, but as the cell phone system overloaded, we stopped hearing from him. Then at 9:59 AM, the South Tower collapsed. Faces stared at the TV pictures, and as a group, were almost unable to fathom what we’d seen. Less than 30 minutes later the North Tower collapsed, and these twin buildings, which were so identified with the skyline of New York City, were incredibly gone, along with close to 3,000 of our fellow New Yorkers.
So many questions hit us all at once…who would do this, how did it happen, how could these two huge buildings collapse, and one that was on all our minds at WABC, where was George Weber? The news reports continued, but with all the confusion it was hard to tell what was true and what wasn’t. Were there more hijacked planes out there, and had other attacks taken place in Washington and elsewhere around the country? Getting a landline phone call was very hard; cell service was pretty non-existent, communications among families and friends was almost impossible. It was over an hour later when we heard from George. He’d walked for blocks from the WTC site and had waited on a line at a pay phone before he was finally able to check in with the station. Okay, we knew one of our friends and coworkers was alive…but what about everyone else.
WABC’s 2001 9/11 Montage
The day dragged on, and we watched TV as they tried to figure out what had happened, and what was happening. One of the hardest tasks of the day was getting in touch with friends and family, finding out if they were okay, and assuring them that I was fine. The first response of the city was to shut down, and a lot of us wondered if we’d get home. Being above Penn Station, we kept looking down at the crowds milling around a closed Penn Station. We also kept looking a couple of blocks to the east at the Empire State Building and realizing it was once again the tallest building in New York!
Later that day, the Long Island Rail Road started running and those of us from Long Island headed downstairs, and like every other commuter that day, got on any train as long are it was leaving New York City! As the packed standing room only train came out of the tunnel into Queens, everyone looked to the south where the twin towers of the World Trade Center had been on the way in that morning, but now were replaced by smoke. It was very quiet in the train as everyone realized that those two buildings we’d seen every day on our commute into Manhattan were gone, along with all the folks who were working in them.
The days after September 11th were very strange to say the least. The fact that there were absolutely no planes in the sky made for a very eerie quiet that was very unlike the norm, especially for us living in Mineola, which could alternately be in the flight path to either LaGuardia or JFK Airports. I know that for weeks after the planes started flying again, every time one flew over I would find myself stopping and looking at it. Taking the LIRR into the city in the days after September 11th was also different. There was an uneasy quiet on the trains, that I guess came from a lot of folks who would rather be somewhere else, but who had responsibilities and had to do what they were doing. I remember not seeing people that had been regulars on our trains, and wondering if they were in the towers when they came down, or were they perhaps too scared to venture into Manhattan again. Questions I’d never have the answers to….
One thing that made the post 9/11 strangeness livable was the feeling that we were all in it together. There were American flags on houses, cars, businesses…virtually everywhere! Our Boy Scout Troop did a huge drive to get some of the supplies that the rescue workers at Ground Zero needed, and we had great response. People were friendlier to each other and more respectful…even politicians! From New York City to Washington, the political discourse had a united front. We weren’t Republicans or Democrats, Liberals or Conservatives, we were Americans. There was no finger pointing, just everyone shouldering the load and helping to move forward. If every cloud has to have a silver lining, that was September 11th’s.
Too bad that 21 years later, so many seem to have forgotten. There’s no way that anyone who lived through that day will not be thinking today about their experiences, about all the New Yorkers who are no longer with us and about how the rest of us pulled together as a team. On that day, 2,750 people lost their lives when the World Trade Center was attacked. Members of our Mineola Community were among the 455 of those victims who were fellow Long Islanders. Within the 2,750 victims that day were 415 who were emergency workers in New York City, who responded to the World Trade Center. They included 343 firefighters from the New York City Fire Department, 37 police officers with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department, 23 police officers of the New York City Police Department, 8 emergency medical technicians and paramedics from private emergency medical services, 3 New York State Court Officers, 1 Patrolman from the New York Fire Patrol, and 1 Special Agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
For months after 9/11, there were important people in our lives that we never saw, because we had friends and neighbors who worked around the clock for months on “the pile” looking for remains of the 2,750 victims of the attack. Today, I’ll also be thinking about my friends who were involved after the towers came down. People like NYPD ESU Officer Scott Strauss who pulled the last survivor out of the rubble, or PAPD Detective Don McMahon, who’s partner sped towards the Towers from JFK airport that morning just after the first plane hit, and who was the first PAPD Officer to die that day. Donnie then spent the next 6 months at the on site morgue, working to identify remains of the victims when they were found. We’ll also be thinking today of the many Firemen we know, both NYFD and others who spent so many hours on the pile digging, without regard for their own personal safety, and sadly several we know are paying the price with their health today. We Thank God that there are so many people among us who run towards trouble as the rest of us run away! As we remember 9/11, and the days, weeks, and months afterward, we thank you for your service and for your friendship and for setting an example for the rest of us.
In the fall of 2004, our youngest son Kenny started as a freshman at the Manhattan Campus of Pace University, which was located just across from New York’s City Hall. Members of the senior class who worked orientation, told us stories of what 9/11 was like for them, just days into their freshman semester at Pace. Kenny’s 4 college years were virtually spent at Ground Zero. In his second year, he lived in an apartment just behind the heavily damaged Deutsche Bank Building. As a Junior he lived in an apartment on John Street, just up the street from the South Street Seaport. The truth is that for years after, the neighborhood was an ongoing demolition/construction site, and frankly nobody wanted to live there, which is why college students (or their parents) could afford the rent. There were so many visible reminders of that horrible day, every time we drove through the neighborhood, around detours, and looked at the remains of the destroyed buildings. Remember that in addition to the North and South Towers, other builds lost due to the attack were 7 World Trade Center, Manhattan Community College’s Fireman Hall, 5 World Trade Center, St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, Marriott World Trade Center, US Customs Building, The Deutsche Bank Building, and several others. It took years for the area to appear “normal” again.
But as we remember 9/11 today, I know we live in a better world because people like Scott and Donnie are a part of it. As we remember those who died 21 years ago, I hope we will all also remember the heroes of September 11th. Friends, neighbors, family members, and people whose names we will never know, who stepped up on that horrible day. Ordinary folks who did extrodinary things, and renewed our faith in our fellow human beings. That’s the lesson I try to take from that horrible day 21 years ago. Yes indeed, 9/11/2001 was very personal to us!
FDIII – 9/11/2015
WABC’s 2002 9/11 Montage put together for the first anniversary
Have you ever had one of those moments in your life that whatever your actions were, affected the rest of your life? Today is one of those days in the lives of Susie and myself. You see, it was 45 years ago today that Susie and I met, and I can honestly say it was love at first sight!
Back in the Summer of 1977, NABET was in the middle of a 5 and a half month strike against ABC. Rather than running the board on the 8th floor of the ABC Building for WABC and WPLJ, I was picketing 3 days a week for 3 hours at a time. Thankfully, I was a 27 year old single guy, so not going through the financial peril a lot of the older married folks were suffering through. It was a sad, kind of poor summer, but I did have lots more free time than I normally would., and that’s why I was able to accept an invitation to a Fourth of July backyard Bar-b-cue on Sunday July 3rd!
The party was given by my friend Bill Epperhart and his wife Maryanne. I met Bill when we both worked at the CW Post College Radio Station, WCWP, and now Bill worked at WNBC. Bill’s wife Maryanne was a Registered Nurse at the Glen Cove Community Hospital, as was the the young lady I met that day, Susan Lynn Johnson, RN! Turns out that Susie had called in sick that day to attend the party, and many years later we found out from Maryanne that getting us together was the main inspiration for the party!
I’m very happy to say that it worked! We were thrown together at the party when I helped Susie light some fireworks she’d brought back from a visit to her Great Aunt in North Carolina, and as I said before, it was really Love at First Sight! The following weekend we went out on our first real date, and at the Dynasty Chinese restaurant in Roslyn, my fortune cookie said, “You Will Marry Your Current Lover and Be Happy”. 45 Years later, the fortune cookie is still correct!!
Happy Anniversary baby! I L Y J T W Y A then, now, and forever!! XO XO XO XO XO XO
R New Adventures 