It was 1948. We took the same trolley to school each morning, and he would get on the stop before me. The first day he saw me, he told his friend, “I’m gonna marry her.” Every day he would look for me on the trolley. We finally met at a church dance, and we danced all night in our own corner. We started going steady in 1950, and we were married in 1953.
Dorothy Bernard, Mount Laurel
At Halloween karaoke. He was dressed like Marty McFly from “Back to the Future,” and I called him a chicken from across the bar to get his attention.
Renée Sadie Minichino, Egg Harbor Township
We met our freshman year of college in the dining hall at Sunday brunch. We were best friends for six months before we finally started dating.
Anya Gelernt-Dunkle, Moorestown
I went to an all-girls high school and he went to an all-boys school, so the schools would recruit each other for their musicals. In 1974, my school did “Oklahoma!” I was giggly Gertie and he was the peddler, and our characters got married at the end. Then, the boys did “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” and again, our characters got married at the end! So in 1979, we got married a third time – this time for real.
Mary Kay Maley, Collingswood
It was 1978, and I was a junior at Western Michigan University when a huge snowstorm hit. Everything on campus was closed, so students from a few different dorms decided to raid the kitchen in one of the dining halls. Ruth and I were both making sandwiches when we struck up a conversation. I always say we owe our marriage to snow and sandwiches.
Tom Moriarty, Marlton
We were a high school cliché: I was one of the captains on my football team, and she was on the cheerleading squad. Eleven years and still going strong.
Les Headley, Cape May Court House
I worked with her cousin, who insisted we would be a great match. She kept begging to set us up, so I finally said yes just so she would leave me alone. She was right though – my wife and I have been married nearly 30 years.
Bill Cunningham, via Facebook
He lived next door to me. We were both single parents who had left bad relationships. He was living with his dad; I was living with my parents. Every date we went on for six months involved taking the kids to the library, playground, pizza, boardwalk, etc. It’s been almost five years, and now we’re raising a family in our new house.
Emily Van Duyne, Ventnor
We went out when I was in nursing school and he was in college, but it wasn’t anything serious. Then he went to school in Oregon, found the love of his life and brought her back to New Jersey. A few months later, she left him, and he crashed his motorcycle. I went to visit him and promised to have one dinner with him when he recovered.
We had that one dinner, and three months later we were engaged. We got married in 1980.
Carol Wiley, Deptford
We really met on the app OKCupid, but I usually lie and tell people we met at Starbucks.
Tim Patrick, via Facebook
The date was November 1974, and the introduction was strictly business. I was the director of external communications for Girard Bank in Philadelphia, the first bank in the market to sell gold. I also provided the financial comments for two daily news segments on KYW. Jerry was the assistant editor of Focus, a business magazine, and also a weekend news anchor at KYW. He was assigned to write a story on gold. He asked his cohorts at KYW if they knew me. They said yes and encouraged him to call for the information, which I provided. The editor of Focus was so pleased with the story, he suggested that Jerry take me to dinner to thank me.
Anne Sceia Klein, Medford
