Then Bill came along and we dated for a little more than a year. Then we got married.

When I was at Hunter there was a dance advertised at one of the hospitals. I remember thinking to myself: “well, maybe I’ll meet a doctor!”

Bill was at Fort Schuyler and the same dance was advertised. He remembers thinking: “oh, maybe I’ll meet a nurse!”

We met on the dance floor. He asked me to dance and I knew that I wanted to get to know him better. I liked the way he looked and the way he acted. I had never met a man quite like him before.

It wasn’t the same for him. We’ve talked about it. He asked me to dance, and I wasn’t the sparkle of his eyes. But I was persistent with him.

We met in October, and then he asked me out once more. Then he asked me out for New Year’s Eve. But I already had a date. But a week before New Year’s my date came down with appendicitis. This guy was from Fordham College; he landed in the hospital.

That very same week Bill happened to call, and I told him I was free. We went to a New Year’s Eve party and then we continued to date. We got married about a year and a half later at Saint Paul’s church in the Bronx. Of course we had a big Italian reception.

I had to quit my job at the insurance company because my husband was in the training program. So we got married and the next morning we took off to Ashtabula, Ohio. He was working out there. We were only there for a month or two before we moved to Windsor, Connecticut.

Bill was in a training program with the engineering company to learn their processes. From Windsor, Connecticut, we moved to Flushing, Long Island.

When we were in Flushing, Bill trained for the Golden Gloves. He had two fights before we had to leave, which was a good thing.

Forte Schuyler trained guys to be in the merchant marine. But when Bill graduated in 1964 there wasn’t a need for sailors. However, engineers were needed in industry.