My husband’s aunt, Mary Ann McDermott, worked for many years at Loyola University, both downtown and at the school’s Lake Shore Campus, and she helped to prepare generations of nurses as both a dean and administrator.

While she and her husband, Dennis McDermott, live in Uptown, they’re well-known in Skyline turf so I wanted to share this story about a pretty important milestone most couples who’ve tied the knot would be thrilled to achieve: 50 years of marriage.

When Dennis McDermott first laid eyes on Mary Ann Kelley in September of 1957, “I liked her smile and real enthusiasm,” he said. “I had previously been going with an Italian girl, and this Irish gal had everything I ever dreamed of for a wife, so what else could I do but marry her, and she’d become my wife, lover, and mother of our children.”

Even though they were both dating others, the pair got to know each other better while building a homecoming float, designed by Dennis. They spent their first date at Hamilton’s, a bar and restaurant in Edgewater.

“We got to know each other better, one on one,” Mary Ann said. “We spoke to each other like old friends do, happily!”

Well, Dennis and Mary Ann fell madly in love. It took Dennis a couple of years, but he eventually popped the question on New Years Eve 1959.

“We married right after I graduated from the [Loyola] nursing program, June 25, 1960,” Mary Ann recalled.

On that date this year, Dennis and Mary Ann, better known to me as Uncle Denny and Aunt Mary, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows.

Afterward, their kids threw them a big bash, attended by family and friends from all over.

Mary Ann said what she likes best about Dennis is “his sense of wonder, interest, curiosity about everything.” He said he enjoys “her love and thoughtfulness that’s shown and expressed to me daily.”

As someone in her 26th year of marriage, I can only hope to make it to 50. I asked them their secret for staying together for so long.

“You remember why you fell in love and on some of the days, when little things irritate you, learn to look the other way,” Mary Ann said. She also sent this message to her hubby: “Thanks for loving me and supporting me in all my endeavors.”

Dennis was a bit cornier in his words to Aunt Mary:

“For us there will be no end, until death, for we’ll have only have just begun,” he said. “Mary Ann, I love you now and forever, with you time stands still forever.”

Aw, ain’t love grand?

GARDEN PARTY Check out 20 private gardens — including Francis Cardinal George’s rose garden — and a narrated walking tour of historic Dearborn Parkway at the 52nd Dearborn Garden Walk on Sunday. There’ll be jazz, classical performances and a Hollywood-Inspired Vignette Tour by design teams including: ASI, Carol Wolk, Handman Associates, I.D. Chicago, Jase Frederick, Laura Barnett Designs, Oak Street Design Corp., and Soucie Horner. For additional information, call 312-632-1241 or point your Web browser over to www.DearbornGardenWalk.com.

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By Frankie from gold coast
Posted: 07/17/2010 10:14 PM

What a pleasure to read, we need more stories like this, what a heartwarming love story. I read Felicia all of the time, you never know what she has in store for us.