LI Love Story: Paperwork, and a chance encounter, led Josephine Gallagher of Rockville Centre to her knight in shining armor
Josephine and James Gallagher of Rockville Centre in 1961, when they were married. Credit: Gallagher family
Josephine Gallagher (née DeFeo) of Rockville Centre tells the story of meeting her husband, Jim.
While attending Washington Irving High School in Manhattan, my best friend Delia and I got part-time jobs at a Wall Street firm called DeCoppet & Doremus. After high school graduation in 1959, we were both pleased to hear that the company wanted to hire us to work full time.
One day at the job, a tall, slender, handsome man who worked on the New York Stock Exchange came to my desk to complete some paperwork. His name was James Gallagher and I did not know at the time how he would end up changing my life.
A few weeks later, after Jim and I had chatted here and there, he asked me out on our first date. He took me to Radio City Music Hall to see the movie “The Horse Soldiers,” starring John Wayne and William Holden. After the movie he took me out to eat at Romeo’s on 42nd Street for a spaghetti dinner. The total bill for both of us came to five dollars!
We had an awesome night. That was our beginning and we dated for two years until Jim surprised me with a proposal, asking for my hand in marriage at the Colts Neck Inn in New Jersey.
The proposal was not without issues, since our parents had expected us to date people of our own ethnicities. Jim and I are both second-generation Americans. My parents were from Italy and Jim’s parents were from Ireland. As time passed, however, both of our families got to know us and see that we were in love. I am happy to report that they eventually gave us their blessings.
Jim and I were married on Aug. 26, 1961, at St. Vincent Ferrer Roman Catholic Church in Flatbush, Brooklyn. I was 20 and Jim, who grew up in Queens and had graduated from John Adams High School, was 21. Our reception was at the Farragut Inn in Flatbush.
For our honeymoon, we went to Bermuda and stayed at the Elbow Beach Surf Club. While there, we met a couple who had gotten married an hour before us at the same church in Brooklyn, and we stayed friends with them for many years.
Josephine and James Gallagher of Rockville Centre on June 11, 2021.
Credit: Gallagher family
We settled down and raised our family in Brooklyn, first on Ocean Avenue, where we lived for 18 years, and later on East 40th Street. We had a house built in Baldwin and moved there 25 years ago. Seven years ago, we moved to Rockville Centre, where we currently live.
Jim retired from a career working in finance on Wall Street 20 years ago. I worked in the buying office at Alexander’s Department Store and later in the shoe industry, retiring three years ago. We are both very involved in the Sandel Center (our senior center) and in our community.
We have two caring sons, James and Richard, and two amazing daughters-in-law, Lisa and Jodi, as well as three spectacular grandchildren, Lindsey, Madison and Dylan.
There are always peaks and valleys in a marriage, but when we had our differences, we resolved them with communication and understanding. We plan to commemorate our anniversary with our beautiful family, celebrating the fact that we both still have each other after 62 years! We are blessed in so many ways!
I’m thankful I was sent my knight in shining armor, my prince!
