The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Madelena Dellaratta
When I was 17 and living in Brooklyn, a girlfriend asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. She told me, “I have the perfect partner for you.” Well, Johnny, my future husband, was my girlfriend’s cousin, and he was asked to be a groomsman.
One day, all the bridesmaids and groomsmen met each other at my girlfriend’s parents’ house for a party, and that’s where I met Johnny. He took me home after the party, and he asked me a lot of questions. He even invited me to go to Coney Island, but I said no; my dad was very strict. But we soon started dating.
Johnny worked two shifts at a printing company. He’d come over to my house, and I’d make him dinner. He liked everything I cooked. I was a better cook at 17 than most girls today.
One day, after dating for about four months, Johnny asked me, “How much do you think it costs to get married?”
I said, “Why do you want to know that?”
And, he said, “Because I want to marry you.” So, we got married. Johnny was the most wonderful man in the world. Everybody loved him.
Armand DeSantis
When I was 35, I was the manager and pharmacist at Sun Ray Drugs in West Oak Lane. My wifeto-be, Nancy, came to work at the pharmacy as a cosmetician/set-up girl.
I put her on my schedule — one, because she was a very good worker, and two, because she looked mighty fine. She asked, “Why do I have to work this schedule?” I told her, “It’s best for you.”
I left Sun Ray Drugs to work at another pharmacy, and Nancy and I didn’t see each other for about a year and a half until I returned to Sun Ray Drugs. We got reacquainted, and I decided to ask her out.
On our first date, we went to a restaurant in New Hope. It had a piano bar, and I sang along with the piano player. I don’t remember what songs I sang but in later years, I like to sing “That’s Amore.” Appropriate, right?
When I decided I wanted to marry Nancy, I didn’t ask her; I told her to marry me. After all, I was the manager, and she was just a worker. (I’m just kidding.) I proposed to Nancy in January, and we got married in April in Horsham.
Marge Synakowski
I first met my husband, Lee, when I was living in Port Richmond with my mother and father. He had an aunt who lived across the street, and when he visited her, he’d wave to me.
For our first date, he probably took me out for pizza. When we started dating, I was seeing someone else. Lee wanted me to himself, so he convinced me to break up with the other guy. When we went out, we usually went with a crowd — mostly his friends. And I’m still friends with some of those people today.
Lee was a very giving, loving, good-hearted person. He always thought of others — family and friends — before himself, and he was always doing things for others. In my teens and 20s, I worked at a Food Fair grocery store a few blocks from my house. If it was raining, Lee would come to the store to take me home.
We married when I was 23 and he was 26. We had four beautiful girls, and they were crazy about him. He was crazy about them, too.
Glenn Johnson
I was a senior at Wilkes College and was on the board of directors of a local YMCA. I was on my way to a board meeting at the Y, and I passed the gymnasium. There was a woman teaching kids how to twirl a baton. I thought, “She looks pretty nice.”
I went on to my meeting, and when it was over, I walked passed the gymnasium. There she was again teaching another baton class.
Now, Wilkes College had an annual Winter Carnival. It was coming up in a couple of weeks, and I didn’t have a date. So I went into the gymnasium, introduced myself to the woman and asked her if she’d like to go to the Wilkes Winter Carnival with me.
She said, “Well, shouldn’t we go out on a date first.”
I thought that was a good idea, so the next weekend, we went out on a date and had a good time.
Then, I asked her again, “Would you like to go to the Winter Carnival with me?” And she said, “Yes.” That was in February. I graduated from Wilkes in June. In August, I got married in Wilkes Barre to the woman I met at the YMCA just a few months before. We had a good marriage for over 50 years before she passed away recently. And, I still have three lovely daughters.