Love story: Elisa and Steven Hanson, Garden City

Elisa and Steven Hanson of Garden City were neighbors for years before they finally met. Elisa explains.

In December 1971, my next-door neighbor phoned and asked if he could come over. I said sure. Our parents were at a dinner dance together and I was baby-sitting my three sisters. We lived on 96th Street in Ozone Park, Queens. I was 17.

My hair was in huge, pink rollers and I was mopping the kitchen floor when he rang the bell. Imagine my surprise as I opened the door to find my neighbor and his very handsome friend standing there. I quickly slipped away, pulled the rollers out of my hair and came back to meet Steven Hanson. My name was Elisa Mangiapanella back then. Steven said, “I know you.”

He was 19 and lived down the block. Although we had attended the same Catholic elementary school, we had never met. He remembered walking behind me on our way to school and only knew me as the girl down the block. I was aware there were boys living down the block, but never paid much attention to them. However, I clearly recalled seeing Steven about two years earlier, when I was 15 and he was 17. He was coming out of his house and our eyes met. I suppose it was Cupid starting his matchmaking.

Steven and my neighbor stayed, and we talked until 3 a.m. — when my parents returned home. A few days later Steven called to ask me out on a date. We drove around Howard Beach looking at Christmas lights. He had a 1962 Pontiac Tempest nicknamed “Betsy.” He stapled Betsy’s ceiling with material to keep it from falling down. Our second date was at the Metropolitan, a comedy club in Forest Hills. That evening he confessed he always thought I was cute and had asked his friend to introduce us. We’ve been together ever since.

On Oct. 19, 1975, we were married at our parish church, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Steven is an architect for Heatherwood Communities in Commack. I’m an adjunct professor at Adelphi University in Garden City.

Life has not been without its sorrows for us, but along with our faith, we have been blessed with a loving family and by special friends. We are thankful that life has graced us with a happy marriage that includes two beautiful daughters, one kind son-in-law and one precious granddaughter.

We celebrated our 40th anniversary recently with friends in North Carolina’s Outer Banks and saw a Broadway show with our extended family.

It feels like yesterday that I met that handsome boy down the block. I will be forever grateful for the life he has given me. A framed quotation hangs in our bedroom that reads: “Grow old with me, the best is yet to be!”

— With Virginia Dunleavy