Love Story: Jane and Bernie Mueller

There was some confusion when Jane and Bernie Mueller of Coram met. Jane recalls the start of their courtship.

On Nov. 3, 1967, my friend Rita Mooney and I went shopping after work and then had dinner in Corona, Queens.

Rita and I became friends while working for the New York Telephone Co. on East 69th Street in Manhattan. I started working there after graduating from Bishop Reilly High School in Fresh Meadows. I eventually got another job at Diamond International on Third Avenue, but kept in touch with Rita.

After dinner we were walking to the No. 7 IRT subway when I realized I should have stopped off at the bathroom before leaving the restaurant. Rita said her grandmother's house was just a few blocks away in Elmhurst. Her cousin, who lived there, might even drive us home if we were lucky.

At the house I was introduced to her cousin and thought Rita said his name was Ernie. He agreed to take me home to Flushing and Rita to Jackson Heights. I sat next to him in his 1965 white Impala, and Rita took the backseat. I didn't realize then that he thought my name was Jean. When we got to my house, I thanked him for the lift and then dropped the subway token that I had been holding the whole time. He picked it up, and when he gave it back to me, we both felt sparks.

A couple of days later I was talking to Rita about cousin "Ernie." She told me that Bernie had driven us home. Whenever she had talked about her cousin Bernie in the past I always thought it was short for Bernadette.

Though I was Jane Geraghty at the time, Bernie called my house a week later asking for Jean, which happened to be my mother's name. We sorted things out and started dating. He was 20, and I was 19.

During the workweek, Bernie would drive from his office at Union Carbide in Long Island City, pick me up from work in Manhattan and take me home. On Sunday nights we would drive to a subway station, and he would purchase a week's worth of tokens for me. He proposed six months after we met.

We were married on May 2, 1970, at St. Michael's Church in Flushing. Bernie worked in the telecommunications field for Western Electric, AT&T, Global Crossing and then for Level 3 as company communications engineer before he retired in 2011. I retired in 2002 after being a customer service rep with Allstate Insurance in Farmingville for almost 20 years. We have three fantastic children, who are all married to wonderful people, and our five grandchildren are priceless to us.

In 2008 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Bernie was with me when we got the news and told me we would fight this together. For a man who hates hospitals and has fainted in doctors' offices, he stood by me through surgeries, chemo and radiation and now all my follow-up visits at Sloan Kettering. He is my rock and my best friend. Make the most of each day because you'll never have it back again.