Love Story: Ed and Ada Lieberman, Commack

Ada Lieberman of Commack recalls the weekend she met her future husband, Ed.

I graduated from Brooklyn College in June 1963, and was planning to start graduate work in musicology at the University of California, Berkeley, in September. I was 21 and lived with my parents in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Neither of them was thrilled with the idea of me going so far away, so they encouraged me to go on singles' weekends with my friends, hoping I would meet a young man.

They told me a resort in the Pocono Mountains was hosting a singles' event July 19-21. Unfortunately, none of my friends was able to go, so my parents decided to drive me there and stay at a motel nearby.

I arrived at the resort on Friday, and was given a cabin with three other girls who had come together. They tried to lose me as soon as they could, and when we were assigned tables for dinner, they made sure I was not seated with them.

It had been raining but began to clear up after dinner. I decided to go back to the cabin and change out of my rain boots. Along the way, I saw two handsome guys walking back to the social hall. I figured I had nothing to lose, so I said hello and explained that I was an optimist, putting away my boots because I thought it wouldn't rain anymore. They said they would wait for me.

The two men were my future husband, Ed, and his best friend, Richard. When I walked into the social hall with them, my roommates were really surprised.

Ed and I spent the evening dancing together and talking. He was 25 and an excellent dancer. We danced the Lindy in the same style. The next day, we met after breakfast, watched a solar eclipse through pinholes in a shoe box and played games. We went to the show together that night.

As we were leaving for home on Sunday, Ed asked for my phone number. He even met my parents when they came by to pick me up. He called the next day to ask me out for the following weekend.

Ed lived in Farmingdale, an hourlong car ride to my house in Flatbush. Our first date was a double date to Jones Beach with Richard and a girlfriend of mine, then to dinner and later dancing at a nightclub. Ed and I spent every weekend together after that, and by early October we were engaged. We were married on March 15, 1964, at Temple Ahavath Sholom in Flatbush. So my parents were happy when I started my graduate work at Brooklyn College.

I retired in 2013 as a music teacher with the Middle Country Central School District. Ed had his own business, Quality Plants in Manorville, and retired in 1998.

This year, our three children, two sons-in-law and three grandchildren, along with other family members and friends, celebrated a joyous 50th anniversary with us at Carlyle on the Green in Bethpage. It's been 50 wonderful years so far, and we hope for many more great years in the future.