SURPRISE ON THEIR 70th ANNIVERSARY:
Surprise fete hails 70 yrs. of bliss after blind date
IN A VERY different time, in prebeatnik Greenwich Village, lived a 16-year-old girl, daughter of Sicilian immigrants.
Uptown, on the East Side, a 20-year-old Army veteran, whose parents had emigrated from Italy, was talked into a date with the downtown girl.
World War II had recently ended, Perry Como and Bing Crosby were on the music charts, and a malted cost a nickel at a soda shop.
“I met her on a blind date.” Remo Antinori, now 92, said, before Josephine Antinori, 87, chimed in, describing how their friends had gotten them together.
They have been together ever since.
The Antinoris will be celebrating 70 years of marriage in September, but their family couldn’t wait. So, to be sure their surprise party was really a surprise, they had it on Saturday.
“We are really throwing them off,” said daughter Lisa Petrocelli, 61.
“It’s our cousin’s 65th birthday, and they thought the dinner was for that,” she laughed.
“My mother’s a ball of fire, and my father is so passive. They’re two wonderful people at opposite ends of the spectrum.”
When the couple arrived at Chelsea Ristorante in Chelsea, they were astonished to find their loved ones crowded at the entrance yelling “Surprise!”
As camera flashes went off, Josephine waved her arms in mock indignation.
Remo took the nearest chair and teared up in front of 35 guests, including some of their five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, ranging in age from 6 months to 20 years old.
The Antinoris were wed at St. Anthony’s Church on Sullivan St. in 1948. Both first-generation Americans, they shared a traditional way of life.
Josephine has lived in the same Thompson St. apartment for her entire life, with Remo moving in after they were wed.
The couple raised their four children in the two-bedroom home, and four out of five of Josephine’s siblings also had apartments in the building.
When Josephine’s mother fell ill and became blind, she moved in with the family until her death in 1972.
The Antinoris remain there today.
Their son Ron Antinori, 54, told guests about how his parents inspired him.
“Although the length of time they’ve been together is very impressive, it’s what they’ve done in those years, and how they did it, that matters most,” he said.
Ron Antinori recalled his father waking up at 4:30 a.m. to start his route as a postal worker while his mother worked as a super for their building, collecting the rents and scheduling repairs in the fivestory walkup.
For their 60th anniversary, they also celebrated at an Italian restaurant. At that party were the matchmaking friends who got them together, Hank Francovig and his long-ago girlfriend Mary Lou Santangelo, who had served as Josephine’s maid of honor.
Asked what’s kept them happily married all this time, Remo joked about them being in a 70year argument.
Josephine struck a more emotional chord, and borrowed a line from the Beatles.
“My secret is a four-letter word that everyone should cherish, and that’s love,” Josephine said. “If you have love, everything passes. If you don’t, forget about it.”