JACKSON – When it comes to love stories, the one shared by Paul and Dolores Urcinole is a long one.
The township couple will be celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary this month. The Portobello Road couple was blessed on July 16 during a noon mass at St. Veronica’s Church in Howell.
“This is quite rare as you can imagine in today’s world. They are an inspiration for the constitution of marriage which seems some have lost faith in,” their niece Nancy Calaff told The Jackson Times.
She considers herself “almost like a daughter. I’ve spent my entire life very close to them. I spend a lot of time with them and my cousins are like my brothers and sisters, aunts are like moms and uncles are like dads.”
“It wasn’t uncommon for me to spend my entire summer with my cousins at their house. They had a home in upstate New York and so we would go to upstate New York. We’d spend a weekend or a week there,” Calaff said.
“We are very family oriented and I’ve been a big part of their life. I am one of four. My uncle actually gave me a way at my wedding because my dad passed away two months before the wedding,” she added.
Photo courtesy Nancy Calaff
Paul is 95 years old and a Marine veteran and he described Dolores who is 91, as his rock.
Calaff said, “they met when they were in high school. They grew up in West New York (New Jersey) and they have been together ever since. They moved to Jackson because there are a lot of retirement communities down there.”
“They are spending their golden years in Jackson. They got married in Saint Joseph’s Church in West New York. They have one son, Paul Jr. and they have one granddaughter, Marisa who is 24,” Calaff said.
Paul entered the service at age 19 in 1948 and served in the Korean War from 1948 – 1952. “I know he worked on planes. We have pictures of him standing on the wing of a plane. I don’t think he flew the planes but I know he was definitely involved in working on planes, maintaining them,” Calaff said.
Her uncle Paul married his high school sweetheart in 1952 and they made a home in West New York. “He worked as a truck driver and he was also a carpenter.”
“He did carpentry work on the side. She was the traditional stay at home mom and then she had a job with an encyclopedia company,” Calaff added.
Photo courtesy Nancy Calaff
Calaff said “we joke that they have a more active social life than we do. He still drives. They go to Atlantic City.” Her aunt Dolores “is very involved with the Red Hat Society and they are involved with a lot of the activities of the community like bingo. Aunt Dolores did a veteran’s speech at the Senior Center for Memorial Day. She gives a speech every year because her husband is a veteran, he’s a Marine.”
“They are very involved. They are at Winding Ways and they moved there in 1996. For their age it is amazing. I think that is why they have such longevity because they are still together and they spent a huge course of time together. I think there is something to be said about that,” their niece said.
Photo courtesy Nancy Calaff
Calhaff added, “they got through a whole lot together, the whole Covid thing and more. They are still very cognitively sharp.”
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