Most people are familiar with the term March Madness and all its basketball implications. For the first round of this year’s March Madness tournament Jerry and I were at the top of the leader board in a pool run by our nephew Peter. We fully realized that all our basketball happiness could change in a minute if our picks didn’t continue to win and such was the case when the University of Maryland – the team that we picked to win the championship , Jerry’s alma mater – lost. Now I want to focus on a different kind of happiness.

March has always been a special month for me. Growing up on Long Island, New York in a four weather season climate, March was a favorite month as it ushered in the warmth of Spring and gave a hint of the flowering trees and plants to come. March weather can have the roar of lion or the calm of a lamb.

Last Thursday was a lamb kind of day – absolutely beautiful, the kind of the day you want to spend outdoors. Jerry and I golfed. It is a blessing that we have this fun activity that we enjoy doing together. When we were younger marrieds I also golfed with a Ladies group and Jerry had a regular Men’s group. Now sometimes we are joined by family members or if we are golfing at our own club, other members will join us. Since we golf two to three times a week we may hold the distinction of being the oldest active golfers in our club. This is a kind of strange distinction that we are still trying to process.

March happenings that have led to March Happiness: In January 1955 when I graduated from high school my academic plan was college to be followed by law school. That was the educational path of my mother and her identical twin sister and it seemed like a good one to me.

March 4 to March 13 is the time of the Novena of Grace to St Francis Xavier. This was always a very powerful prayer time for my mother. I was saying this novena that I make the right career decisions and also attending mass as part of the novena. In March 1955 One day, during that novena period, I was on a crowded subway going into Marymount College. Since I couldn’t get a seat and perhaps do some extra reading for class, I started reading the subway ads to help pass the time. The ad that I kept coming back to was by the American Red Cross promoting their Home Nursing classes. I was intrigued and decided that was a class I would follow up on after law school graduation and passing the bar exam. Pretty soon my thoughts had evolved to wondering how much thought had actually gone into my law school decision. Should I rethink that decision. Within a matter of days and with some research, my thoughts turned to the BSN nursing program at Cornell- New York hospital. Sixty college credits were required for admission to that program. I could do that at Marymount in a year and a half and enter the Cornell program in September 1956. Decision made – I was now on my way to a profession I came to truly love.

But the biggest blessing that came to me from embracing the Novena of Grace was when I met my husband-to-be on March 5 of 1960.

I moved to Washington after graduation from Cornell taking an apartment with two other young gals, Genevive and Janet, who both had just graduated from Trinity College in Washington and who wanted to start their work life in the nation’s capitol. Gen worked in marketing and Janet got a job teaching. I had been hired by Arlington County, VA as a public health nurse. We lived in Glover Park right outside of Georgetown. Having grown up in Laurelton, Long Island which is part of New York City and having all my schooling in New York City schools – that includes Cornell’s nursing school which along with their medical school is also located in New York City – moving to Washington DC was a big deal for me. I was both scared and very excited. The scary part was eased somewhat by the fact that both my brothers lived in or not too far from DC.

My Jesuit brother Bud taught at Gonzaga High School and lived there in the Jesuit residence . My brother Pete and his bride lived in Northern Virginia. It was a pretty ideal situation for me. I liked the friends I was living with and my brothers and new sister-in-law were close by.

On Saturday, March 5 of 1960, as part of that year’s Novena of Grace , I was planning on attending mass at Holy Trinity in Georgetown. I needed spiritual guidance about my dating life. Holy Trinity was the parish serving Glover Park where we lived. The night before my roomates and I were out rather late with friends. When the alarm went off at 8am – so I could get to the 9 o’clock mass at Holy Trinity, I was so so tired. It had been a very busy week at work. I reset the alarm for 11 o’clock and went back to sleep. Though I didn’t know the mass schedules of other churches I was sure I could find one that had a Saturday mass later than Holy Trinity’s 9am. Waking up at 11 I got phone busy right away. After a few phone calls I learned that St Matthew’s Cathedral had a 12 o’clock . I quickly dressed and was on my way – with my DC map since I had never been to St. Matthew’s. When I finally found the church I was a bit taken aback that in order to reach the church parking I had to go up a hill that was still showing the snow effects of the previous day’s storm. I saw a blue Volkswagen drive the snow covered hill with no problem. So up I started and slid back down. I tried again with the same results. By this time the driver of the blue Volks had parked his car and was now standing by the side of the hill watching my sliding episodes. Finally he called out, ” Can I help”. I had been taught as a child in New York not to talk to strangers. But this stranger was so appealing. I moved over, he climbed in and up the hill we went. We then attended mass together and when he walked me back to my car and asked for my phone number, I was pretty excited. I didn’t tell him but he had to call by Tuesday if he wanted to go out the next weekend. My roomates and I had pretty active social lives. After Tuesday I would probably have plans. Around 7:30 on Tuesday evening the phone rang. It was the call I had been hoping and praying for.

Jerry and I were engaged in June 1960 and married the following November. We first were planning to be married in June of 1961 and then we moved the date to February of 1961. That was the date we gave my parents. About two weeks later we gave them another call and said we would like to get married sooner, like on November 26 of 1960. I was concerned that my parents would think we were moving too quickly and was surprised that there was almost a tone of relief in their voices. And then my father shared that he had checked our February date with the Farmers’ Almanac. It forcasted a major snowstorm for Long Island. They were trying to decide what they should do when we called with the change of date. They were so relieved. As it turned out the Almanac was right – the major snow storm materalized.

I am a strong believer in the power of prayer. On November 26, 2025 Jerry and I will celebrate our 65th wedding anniuversary.