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I met Mark in the dinner line of the cafeteria in Burr Hall in the fall of 1966. He was talking about a pep rally that night and encouraging me to attend. I didn't go to that rally, but I did marry Mark before I graduated! Ironically, Mark’s roommates began hanging out with my roommates and eating Sam’s (Sam Ternullo) cooking. Dinner together became a regular event in that same cafeteria where we had met in line just a few weeks earlier.
Mark was on Eastern’s soccer team and I started attending games. We were not dating, and were both tying up loose ends from old relationships, but we became the best of friends. That is probably the secret of our relationship. We were friends before we dated. Our first date was to Spring Weekend in 1967. Mark asked me to go with him and I said yes. From there it is all history. We dated through our years at Eastern and married during a blizzard in my senior year in January 1970.
Mark taught sixth grade in East Hartford after graduation but his teaching career was interrupted by the draft and basic training for the National Guard. I spend my last semester at Eastern living with my parents while pining for Mark far away in Fort Leonard Wood, MO. He returned just in time for my graduation in May.
We have had many ups and downs in our 46 years of marriage but continue to be best friends. We love our family, retirement and sunsets on quiet beaches. We lost our amazing son, Christopher to leukemia in 1994, and Mark continues to fight a rare cancer that requires him to be on dialysis 10 hours each day. From these tough times we have learned to enjoy the treasures in our lives which include a beautiful daughter, a great son-in-law and our beloved grandsons.
Life is good . . . and our love story lives on!
