When Cupid Strikes: Westchase Couples Share Their Stories

In honor of Valentine’s Day, several happily married Westchase couples graciously agreed to share the details on how Cupid’s arrow finally hit its mark.

For Angela Getty, a Keswick Forest resident, her interest in husband Matthew was piqued even before she first laid eyes on him. It was the summer before Angela’s senior year of college in Cape Cod. Angela’s brother was working as a lifeguard that summer and shortly after renting a house with a fellow lifeguard he came to Angela with words of advice: “Stay away from Matthew Getty!”

Of course, having never met Matthew, Angela was intrigued. She actively sought him out and ended up spending a night on the town with Matthew. They hit it off right away, but it was a couple of months before Angela heard from him again.

“Matthew called me looking for my brother’s phone number,” Angela says. “We ended up talking for hours and started dating after that.”

A year later, Angela decided to ask her brother why he warned her to stay away from Matthew. His reply? “I knew you would fall for him right away and that would be the end of it.”

Ten years of marriage, two kids and one cat later, Angela is certainly glad she did not heed her brother’s warning.

A sibling also influenced Carmen Longnecker, relative newcomer to The Shires, when it came to finding her husband. Carmen’s sister, Maria Aranda, accepted an invitation from Lourdes Garcia to join a kickball game in West Park Village. Carl Longnecker, who was in the neighborhood visiting his parents, also decided to join in on the game. After being introduced to Carl’s mom, Tricia, Maria found out that Carl was Carmen’s age and, more importantly, single.

Based upon her conversation with Tricia and Carl’s behavior on the kickball field, Maria deemed Carl to be an all-around nice guy and decided to play matchmaker. Carmen, who made it a rule to avoid blind dates, was hesitant at first. Realizing how adamant her sister was, Carmen eventually agreed to let Maria pass her e-mail address on to Carl. This involved an intricate relay – Maria passed the address to Lourdes, who in turn passed it to Tricia, who eventually got it into Carl’s hands. Carmen and Carl had their first date (the first blind date for both) at Westchase staple, Catch 23. The two hit it off right away, becoming friends at first and eventually dating exclusively.

Five months into the relationship, Carmen suffered a severe break to her leg that required two surgeries and multiple painkillers. “Carl definitely saw a lot of different sides of me,” Carmen laughs. With the “in sickness and in health” vow already mastered, the couple decided to marry just shortly after Carmen’s recovery. The Longneckers moved to The Shires this past October and welcomed son Nathan weeks later. They will be celebrating their second wedding anniversary in April – all because of a kickball game and an observant big sister.

Interestingly enough, medical recovery also played a significant role in how Carl Longecker’s father, also named Carl, and mother, Tricia, fell in love. Carl and Tricia, West Park Village residents who have been married 37 years, met the summer before their sophomore year in high school on the adolescent ward of an Erie, PA, hospital. Tricia was a candy striper and Carl was in full traction after breaking his neck in a waterskiing accident. “Part of the candy striper’s duty was to feed the patients,” Tricia says. She remembers exactly what she was feeding Carl the day they met: sliced peaches. Only she missed Carl’s mouth and sent a slippery peach sliding down his broken neck. “I was mortified!” Tricia exclaims. Carl, however, did not mind one bit. He was smitten. “It was like being looked after by an angel,” he recalls fondly.

Fortunately, Carl was able to make a full recovery and Tricia and he ran into each other frequently in their small, closely knit community. It was not until their senior year in high school, however, that they began dating. “It was a snowy night in January,” Tricia recalls.

“My date had canceled on me,” Carl chimes in. Remembering Tricia, Carl worked up the nerve to give her a call. The couple dated the rest of the year and went their separate ways for college but wrote daily. They were engaged just out of college and married a year later.

When Carl recounts the trauma of his neck injury, he smiles and says, “It brought Tricia into my life!”

Now that is a silver lining.

Longtime Bridges resident Jody Rappaport and her family like to joke that Jody’s husband, Yoav, is the dinner guest who never left. It all began during Passover of 1996. Yoav, who had recently moved to Florida from Toronto to complete his masters in oceanography at USF, was looking for a place to celebrate a Seder (a traditional meal and service during the Jewish Passover holiday). He was referred to the Pearlsteins of St. Petersburg – Jody’s parents.

Yoav recalls trading in his standard flip flops for the only pair of dress shoes he owned, donning a jacket and tie, buying flowers and showing up at the Pearlsteins’ door only to be greeted by Jody’s entire family: parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, sister, sister’s boyfriend, cousins, Jody and even Jody’s boyfriend. As Jody remembers, Yoav made himself right at home. He gave advice on picking up women to Jody’s (unbeknownst to Yoav) gay uncle and explained in great detail the biblical origin of his name to her grandfather – a rabbi. “Later my family all had a good laugh about the outgoing stranger who entertained us during that meal!” Jody laughs.

Yoav left that evening with Jody’s phone number and a promise that she would help him in his quest to meet some “nice Jewish girls.” Yoav began hanging out with Jody and her friends, but he started to notice that Jody’s boyfriend was never around and that all of the girls she was introducing him to were either dating someone or not Jewish. Finally, Yoav decided to steal a kiss and Jody and he began to see each other more regularly.

On one particular outing they went rollerblading and Jody took a nasty spill, passing out briefly. “I was horrified!” Yoav remembers. “My concern surprised me and that is when I knew I was in love!”

The feeling was mutual. Now nearly 16 years later, Jody reasons, “ I have introduced Yoav to lots of nice Jewish girls over the years, so I kept my word – just not in the way I think he originally intended!”

Patricia and David Smith of Chelmsford followed the same career path, one that would eventually lead them to each other. David and Patricia completed nursing programs in college, David in his native Minnesota and Patricia in her native Massachusetts. Both David and Patricia enrolled in the Army’s Student Nurse Corps and following graduation, as fate would have it, they were both assigned to active duty at Ft. Gordon in Augusta, GA. But it would take some time to find each other.

Assigned to different units, their paths crossed only occasionally. As David rose in rank, he eventually took on a supervisory role. Patricia distinctly remembers his visits as night supervisor. She recounts, “After a week of working evenings many of us would meet for pizza outside the southern gate of the base. One night David came to sit next to me and ‘never left my side,’ so to speak.”

That was October of 1972. The couple married in May of 1974 and were thrilled to adopt their son Greg in 1978. After a series of moves that took them back to both of their native states, they eventually returned to the South and have lived in Westchase since 2004. Patricia and David can be seen out walking their two rescued basset hounds, George and Gracie, and they love the waves they receive from their Westchase neighbors.

Kingsford residents Lewis and Rama Patterson are well into their 52nd year of marriage, but remember the day they met like it was yesterday. “It was a Saturday night in 1958,” Rama recalls.

Lewis was on a skating date with his girlfriend, who introduced him to a group of her friends, among them Rama. The next Monday at high school, Lewis heard a young lady greeting him, “Good morning Lewis!” as she passed him in the crowd. The following morning, Lewis returned to the scene of the greeting to figure out to whom that sweet voice belonged. It turned out to be Rama, whom he remembered meeting at the skating rink the previous weekend.

Lewis invited Rama to attend church with him the next evening. After receiving approval from Rama’s father (as was the rule in Rama’s house), Lewis and Rama began seeing each other on a regular basis. Lewis won over Rama’s family with kinds acts, such showing up unannounced to help paint the family home. He even bought a life insurance policy from Rama’s father. Rama asserts, “Lewis knew how to make points!”

A year after Lewis graduated from high school, just before Rama’s graduation, Lewis proposed by way of postcard. Lewis had the postcard stamped but then the postmaster refused to return the card to Lewis stating that it now had to be mailed! So Lewis put Rama’s parents on alert and showed up at Rama’s house to read the card in person. He concluded with the line, “You see that the United States Federal Government has put their seal of approval on this proposal, and I hope you will too.”

Rama, of course, said yes and she sums up the story of how Lewis and she first met with these wise words, “You just never know what a kind greeting will get you!”

We thank these wonderful couples for sharing their stories and wish all of our Westchase couples a Happy Valentine’s Day!

By Karen Ring