Reunited at a 40-year class reunion
Published: March 16, 2006
Catherine Nilson of Freeport tells how she and an old classmate discovered one another.
John Nilson and I grew up in Freeport in the late 1950s and early ’60s. We both went to Archer Street Elementary School, attended the same junior and senior high schools and worshipped at the same church, Holy Redeemer. When we graduated from Freeport High School in 1961, we had two good friends in common. John and I knew each other in passing, but we were not in any classes together.
I married a few years after high school, had a wonderful son, Gary Harmon, and moved to Michigan. I later divorced and moved back to Freeport. I was single for 22 years.
Our 40th high school reunion was supposed to take place in October 2001. But because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the reunion was postponed to April 2002. On a lark, I attended.
The first person to greet me was my old high school friend Mike Beneville. Mike and his good friend, John Nilson, and I hung out together both nights of the reunion. We had a great time.
John called me soon after the reunion and we started dating. He had never been married. John was, and is, the nicest guy I have ever met.
After 20 years of dating, I was ready for the nicest, best guy in the world. He is a math genius with a very analytical mind. I was an art major in high school and college. I’m into arts and crafts, antiques and photography.
We have traveled to Hawaii, which was wonderful, and we took a beautiful cruise to St. Martin, Paradise Island and the Bahamas. We’ve also gone to Nantucket, the Hamptons and Boston.
Now that we are both retired - I worked in retail and he was a business analyst for IBM - we intend to travel much more. But the best thing is, we are very happy just staying at home, cooking - with or without a nice glass of wine - and watching TV together.
After getting engaged on Christmas Eve 2004, we made it to the altar on Valentine’s Day last year. We were married at Holy Redeemer in Freeport, the church where we both received first communion and confirmation as kids. I hadn’t been married in church for my first wedding, and I never had a gown. This time, though, we were committed to each other, and we both wanted to do it right.
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