Love Story: Lucy and Steve Seitz of Huntington

Lucy Seitz of Huntington recalls how she met her husband, Steve.

Everyone who knows me well has heard the story of how my relationship with my husband began on a blind date on Oct. 30, 1964. We were both 18 and were sophomores at neighboring colleges in Pennsylvania. Steve was at Villanova University and I was at Rosemont College.

The previous week I was told that a classmate was looking for me. She was going to a party with her boyfriend and wanted to know whether I’d go with his friend, Steve. She was sure I would like him.

My curiosity was piqued since I didn’t know her very well. It was before cellphones and texting, of course, so when we finally crossed paths on campus I agreed to go.

The party was at an apartment off campus. We had a great time dancing and mingling with Steve’s friends. We discovered we were both from Long Island; I lived in Garden City and he was from Huntington. Steve said that he would like to see me again. I was very pleased, but three weeks passed with no word!

My school was holding a “sophomore weekend” with events planned from Friday through Sunday. I decided to call Steve and invite him to an event on Friday evening. The phone call went like this:

Me: “Steve, hi, this is Lucy Bliss.” Steve: “Lucy who?”

When Steve came to his senses, he said that he had just awakened from a nap. He accepted my invitation, but after learning there were other events that weekend, he called me back to ask if I had meant to invite him to them all. Needless to say, I revised my invitation.

We continued dating at school and when we were on Long Island on vacation. We both had summer jobs during the week, and on the weekends I’d join Steve and his family at their summer home in East Quogue. We spent most of the time at the beach or boating and water skiing.

Steve and I were married on Sept. 10, 1967, at St. Anne’s Church in Garden City, three months after graduation. Our reception was at the Riviera on Manhasset Bay in Port Washington.

Steve was an officer in the Navy from 1968 to 1971 and was stationed at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. He supervised a group of computer programmers supporting the chief of naval operations and the secretary of the Navy. We lived in Alexandria, Va.

Steve and I moved to the Chicago area after Steve’s discharge, then returned to Long Island in 1984 and settled in Cold Spring Harbor. I became a reading teacher with the Glen Cove City School District and retired in 2009. Steve retired in 2004 as vice president and group manager in retail banking technology at JP Morgan Chase in Manhattan.

We have been blessed with two children and six wonderful grandchildren. In 2013 we moved to Huntington. Steve and I enjoy golf, traveling, reading and gourmet cooking.

This year we will attend our 50th college reunions in Pennsylvania — we are still close to Steve’s rommates and their wives — and celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. We plan a trip to London and Paris and a river cruise to Normandy and Versailles.

We lost touch with the classmate who introduced us, but I want to thank her. And thank you, Steve, for 53 amazing years together and for allowing me to tell the “Lucy, who?” story one more time.

— With Virginia Dunleavy