Love Story: She said 'yes' to the winning team

Angela Garrett of Port Washington (nee McGeady) recalls the day that her husband, Jack, danced his way into her life.

In 1955, I met Jack at a Catholic Youth Organization dance in Manhattan where we danced the fox trot. I was 24, and he was 27. I grew up on eastern Long Island and was living in Jamaica, Queens. He lived in Flushing, where he had grown up.

I was attracted to Jack because he really enjoyed life and could tell a good story. He said that he saw me from across the dance floor and was smitten. At first, we were joking around, and for the fun of it, we both lied to each other about what we did for a living. I was a nurse, but I told him I was a secretary. He was a firefighter, but he told me he was a travel agent — which I soon realized was not true because he didn’t even know where Yosemite Park was. We both laughed when I called him out on that!

He called me the day after we met. He had gotten my number from my friend June. Our first date was two weeks later, when he took me to a French restaurant on Hillside Avenue in Jamaica.

We dated for a while, and in the fall I took a trip to Europe with three friends. When Jack came to see us off, he panicked because he saw four handsome sailors standing beside me and my friends at the ship's bon voyage party. He said he thought he’d never see me again. While we were dating, Jack kept telling me that I should "join his team." When I returned from my trip, I told him, "I think I’ll join your team" — and that’s how we decided to marry.

Jack proposed to me in December 1955 at the Rockefeller Center Observatory. Once he slipped the ring on my finger, he was nervous I’d drop it from that height, way above Manhattan.

We were married on Sept. 29, 1956, at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Roman Catholic Church in Jamaica. Our reception was at Delmonico’s in Manhattan. We lucked out with beautiful weather — the next day it poured.

Our honeymoon was at Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach. We had rented a very small car, and we stood out from the "fancy crowd" at the hotel. The bellhops loved getting our small car first, before the big Cadillacs for the women in their furs, much to the chagrin of the other guests.

We settled first in Jamaica, then moved in 1963 to New Hyde Park, where we raised our five wonderful children. We now live at Harborside in Port Washington.

I am a retired nurse/teacher from the Sewanhaka School District. Jack was with the New York City Fire Department for 27 years, retiring as a battalion chief. He then spent 10 years working in fire safety for the U.S. Post Office.

Jack has a great sense of humor and many stories of his days in the fire department — the fires, the guys in the department and the pranks they’d pull on one another. He is a wonderful father to our five children and six grandchildren. As a couple, we were known for our Lindy Hop dancing at weddings and special events. If I could talk to my younger self, I would say, "Even though you weren't looking for marriage, it could be a great move."

For our 65th anniversary, our children threw a surprise celebratory luncheon at The Grill Room at Harbor Links Golf Course where we were surrounded by family on a beautifully sunny day.

— With Laura Mann