Prisoner of Love

By Eugene Fagnano

This story begins in 1945, with how I first met My Love. She was only 15, and I was 17 years old. It's a story about how we met, and how a song had a profound effect on our lives. It is also about how our undying love for each other survived the many obstacles we endured in our early years. We had an unusual start, some touching moments, and a very emotional and somewhat surprising ending. These memories are too precious not to be shared.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781481701495

Eugene Fagnano

Eugene Fagnano, eighty-four years old. Born in Niles, Ohio; grew up in Fairview, N.J. Married to his wife Edna for sixty-one years. They have two married daughters, Debbie and Cindy, six grandchildren Emma, Eugene, Sara, Amy, Sam, and Luke. It was during his last few years of high school, while employed at a White Castle that he met his future wife, Edna. Upon graduation, he enlisted in the US Army for a year and a half. After being discharged, he was admitted into the New York Newspapers Pressmen’s Union. Worked as an apprentice at Alco Gravure, Hoboken, N.J. for fourteen years, then as a pressman for the New York Times for thirty-two more years for a total of forty-six years, when he then retired as pressroom foreman. He is a musician, plays trumpet, is a member of the musicians union, also an artist, belongs to several local art clubs. Active in politics, he was elected to four terms as a councilman. He was appointed as a commissioner to the Bergen County Housing Authority, served twenty years, ten as chairman. He is an active parishioner in his church, a trustee, and finance chairman. His hobbies are music and art. He has a large collection of records from jazz to opera. He still enjoys painting and playing his trumpet. This is his first effort at writing.

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© 2013 by Eugene Fagnano. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 01/11/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-0151-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-0150-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-0149-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012924136

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Acknowledgement

Introduction

Prisoner Of Love

The First Glimpse

Dream Girl

The Courtship

Our Marriage

Golden Wedding Anniversary

My Tribute

Tender Moments

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In memory of my wife, Edna Fagnano,

The love of my life.

This story begins in 1945, with how I first met My Love. She was only 15, and I was 17 years old. It’s a story about how we met, and how a song had a profound effect on our lives. It is also about how our undying love for each other survived the many obstacles we endured in our early years. We had an unusual start, some touching moments, and a very emotional and somewhat surprising ending. These memories are too precious not to be shared.

Acknowledgement

I want to express my gratitude to my grandchildren for the encouragement and inspiration they gave me through some difficult times. I will always remember Mr. Neff my White Castle supervisor who hired me as a young teenager and was my mentor. I would never have met My Love if he hadn’t given me my first job. I’m grateful to my daughters, Debbie and Cindy, who have played an important part in documenting these memories. This story could not have been written without the help of my granddaughter, Emma, whose patience and tireless efforts to assist me in writing and editing this helped make this possible.

It was the love and devotion that our grandchildren, Sara, Amy, Sam, Luke, and Eugene share with us that inspires me to relive and preserve these memories. The many hours I spent telling the stories of our courtship did not fall on deaf ears. Our grandchildren insisted I should keep a record of all I could remember of those early years together. To bolster their request, they bought me a laptop and a recording device and taught me how to use them; no easy task, but an interesting experience. This book is my humble attempt to reward the sincere interest they had in the trials and tribulations their grandparents faced during their courtship. Originally, it was only meant to be a short story for their pleasure only, but that would not do justice to the totality of the influence the woman I married had on so many lives. I would like to thank Sister Alice Marie D’onofrio and Sister Angela Marie for inspiring and encouraging me to publish my story, Deborah Patton Cline, Communications Supervisor for White Castle, for her help in researching and providing memorabilia, and Barbara Laino for her proofreading and copy-editing.

Introduction

I have lived a very beautiful and blessed life. It was possible to fulfill all my dreams only because of the passion and perseverance of the person this book is about and dedicated to, my wife. It is difficult to describe, in the pages of a book, our experience of loving and being loved as it unfolded in real life. Although I cannot present myself as a published author, I hope this story will be an inspiration to others to appreciate the meaning of true love.

If my telling of this story sometimes sounds like an over-praising of my wife, it’s because I wanted her to be the focus of our life together, and I know no other way to describe how much she meant to me. As you read on, it may become obvious to you, this is no literary gem nor is it meant to be. It is just a true life account of two soul mates and their commitment to the pursuit of a dream, literally til death do us part. I am not a professional writer, and this story is my first and probably only