It was the best of times.
I was 19, in college, and had a “big-brother-from-another-mother,” Ray, who kept introducing me to his friends. I never missed a good party and neither did Ray, who was at Fordham Law School.
It was the disco era when you really could dance the night away. And I loved it!
I got a phone message in the dorm from a guy named Jack “Giggin.” Ray called to say that I have to meet this guy. “You two were made for each other,” he said.
“I’m not ready for that one, Ray,” I said. “I’m having too much fun.”
I was not free when Jack “Giggin” asked me out. The second time, he called too late. The third time, he said he needed a date for a special party. I already had a date with another guy — someone who actually was a friend of Jack’s. So, I suggested that Jack call him and plead his case.
Jack canceled my other date and picked me up at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday to go to an engagement party in New Jersey. He had the Jets game on the radio of his cool Volkswagen Beetle. We talked about everything during the two-hour drive. I was opinionated even then. At the party I met his two best friends and their wives.
We headed into the city after the party with those friends, Dick and Marty, and talked until we closed down the bar at the New York Athletic Club. I got back to my dorm just before for the 2:30 a.m. curfew — a 12-hour date. We saw each other the next day and the several weekends after that. I was pretty sure that Ray had been correct about this guy, whose name was not Jack “Giggin” but Jack Geoghegan..
The friends divorced and both remarried. One passed away. But, 57 years later, Jack Geoghegan and I are still together.
—Pat Geoghegan (married to Jack)
