Love Story: Jerry and Carolyn Shaw

Jerry and Carolyn Shaw of Calverton were schoolmates for many years, but it took a chance meeting on a bus to bring them together. Carolyn recalls that particular ride home.

Jerry and I met in 1931 when we started first grade at PS 45 on 150th Street in Queens. He lived in Ozone Park, and I lived in Baisley Park. We didn't see each other outside of school. When we graduated in 1939, we both attended several of the same graduation parties and got to know each other better. But other than that we didn't see each other.

That fall we started freshman year at John Adams High School on Rockaway Boulevard. We weren't in the same classes, but I'd always look for Jerry in the halls. Whenever I saw him I'd walk over and talk to him. However, he didn't catch on that I was interested in him.

All through high school we didn't see each other except between classes. Jerry worked at a number of odd jobs after school to help out his family. He was always busy and had no time to socialize.

We graduated high school in 1943 during World War II. I started working in Manhattan. One evening I was coming home from work. I got off the subway at Jamaica and then onto a bus for the rest of the trip home.

A few minutes later, Jerry got on the bus. He saw me and came over to say hello. I hadn't seen him since we graduated. We were both 17, and Jerry also had a job in Manhattan.

He told me he had enlisted in the Navy and was leaving in a few weeks. It was a short bus ride, and as we got closer to his stop he asked, "If I let you know where I'm stationed, will you write to me?" I immediately replied, "I'd love to write to you."

We started corresponding, and a few months later Jerry came home on a two-day leave. He called me right away, and we went on our first date to the Valencia movie theater in Jamaica.

Jerry was serving with the Navy Armed Guard, gun crews assigned to Merchant Marine ships crossing the Atlantic. Every few months he came home on leave for a couple of days. We were engaged on March 29, 1944, and were married on Jan. 4, 1945.

With the end of the war in Europe, Jerry was transferred to California and then spent the rest of World War II on merchant ships in the Pacific theater.

After the war, Jerry came back home just in time for the birth of our daughter in October 1945.

He worked for Lockheed Aircraft for 25 years and then as a supervisor with Allied Fuel at Kennedy Airport for 17 years. He retired in 1990. We moved to Calverton in 1993. This year our daughter and son-in-law took us out to dinner to celebrate our 67th wedding anniversary.