Love Story: They met at work - and that changed the rest of their lives

Jeanne D’Agostino of Smithtown recalls how she met her husband, Frank.

Back in the spring of 1967, I became a secretary at Aeroflex Laboratories, a defense engineering-manufacturing company in Plainview. My name was Jeanne Morabito back then.

I felt right at home — the people were so friendly — and I enjoyed the work I did in the contracts department. At that time, I was engaged to be married and all my plans were made for my future wedding.

But as luck would have it, along came Frank D’Agostino, one of the many friends I made at Aeroflex. He was so nice and had a personality similar to my father’s. Every day our group would go out to lunch together. Frank and I became very good friends (not romantically) but I felt myself caring more and more for him.

Time flew by quickly. It was now November, six months from my wedding day, and things took a turn for the worse. My dad got lung cancer, and two weeks after an operation, he passed away. I was devastated. This made me re-evaluate my life and my future. I realized I didn’t love my fiance the way I should because of my feelings for Frank. So, I broke my engagement, gave back all the gifts, canceled the church and catering hall — and felt I had done the right thing. Frank and I began talking about our feelings for each other.

We had our first date in December. Frank took me to a very expensive restaurant in Queens. Thinking he might not have brought enough money with him, I said I wasn’t very hungry and just ordered a small salad. Well, to my surprise, Frank ordered himself a complete meal and I sat there kicking myself for not ordering a dinner. (By the way, Frank is known for his appetite. His friends and I do not know where he puts all the food. This is a source of entertainment for all.)

In April 1969, on an outing to a park in Pennsylvania, Frank asked me to marry him. It was so romantic. We were sitting on a large rock by a waterfall. The sun was shining and I was so happy. Of course, I said “yes,” and he suggested we get married the following April. I looked at him and said, “Frank, we are 26 years old and we know what we want, why should we waste a whole year? Let’s get married this October.” He agreed, and on Oct. 19, 1969, we exchanged our vows at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Hicksville and had our reception at GiGi Caterers in Westbury. We went to Barbados for our honeymoon and stayed at the Paradise Beach Club.

In 2013, Frank retired from his position as a senior projects control specialist for the Department of Energy at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton.

I had left Aeroflex after our wedding. In 1987, I started my own business, Pagers Plus, now a car audio systems and cellular phone business in Smithtown.

In October, we went out to dinner with our family and friends to celebrate our 49th anniversary. For our 50th anniversary next year, we plan to renew our vows.

We are so grateful for our life together and our family, made up of a terrific son, a very special daughter-in-law, a fabulous granddaughter and grandson, and the most precious great-granddaughter. And we must not forget our little Norfolk terrier fur baby, Magpie.

With Virginia Dunleavy