24th Wedding Anniversary

Tom F.

Bronze
Jan 1, 2002
699
91
48
Fellow DR1ers, Tomorrow I will have been married to Marisol from Jaya, San Francisco de Macoris for 24 years. We have 2 boys, 23 and 9. No, the 23 year old was born 11 months after we got married. I really got lucky when I saw this pretty, cinnamon colored young women on Caribe Tours eating sunflower seeds while I was in the Peace Corps. She was a Dominican York and the courting began. This was the summer of 1988. I was very familiar with her campo since a fellow PC volunteer lived further up the mountain and I was constantly visiting and working with him. I had a Honda 125 enduro, or "prolink". That Christmas I visited NYC for the first time and stayed in the Heights. Living in the DR for a year or so prepared me for NYC better than my Central Illinois upbringing. After many letters and phone calls, the next summer I commissioned a serinata on her birthday and proposed to her in front of the about 30 people who accompanied me at the midnight songs and subsequent firing of a pistol, in the air of course. Soup and scotch were waiting and partied until 4am. Finished Peace Corps and came straight to 190th and Broadway and married at St. Elizabeth's on 187th and Wadsworth. About 110 people came to the wedding and reception and it was all done in both languages, English and Cibaeno. Maybe about 15 gringos came, Mom, Dad, brothers and sisters, a few Peace Corps friends and a high school buddy. It was a great time, good food and drink and lot's of merengue. Ricardo Mantener, Encima del Celo was our first song we danced. After two years living with the mother-in-law, lived in Ridgewood, Queens to be close to the school I worked in Bushwick. Later to Palisades Park and now Ridgefield, NJ. Lots of Dominicans here in NJ also and we are still close to the Heights.

She is the youngest girl of 13 children. My mother-in-law now has 31 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren and many more of them coming. It is relatively easy to have 50 or so people over on a Sunday barbecue. She came from a rural, land owning family who ran rural based businesses. Very solid upbringing and to be honest, I really married up from a socioeconomic perspective. I sort of stayed within the parameters of Hillbilly's rules. She has been a fantastic wife and mother and has done very well in her job which she has had for as long as we have been married. She has been fully supportive of me recently resigning my teaching position and starting a small chocolate making business so I can follow a dream. I love her very much and owe a great deal of gratitude as she has given our family the needed foundation and stability.

I wanted to share a different example of a US-Dominican marriage and how a few of us end up being almost just as Dominican living here as there.
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
23,097
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South Coast
Great story, thanks for sharing it, and for verifying that there ARE good Dominicans out there. Happy you found your love.
 

bronzeallspice

Live everyday like it's your last
Mar 26, 2012
11,009
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Congrats! Yes, there are lots of good Dominicans, you just have to know how to pick them.
 

Lizzard

Member
Sep 11, 2006
109
6
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63
What a lovely feel good story !! :)

Congratulations on your anniversary !!
May you have many more!!
 

ccarabella

Newbie
Feb 5, 2002
733
12
0
Beautiful story.
Congratulations and may you be blessed with many more years of love, health and happiness.

Ccarabella
 

ddoran

Member
Apr 23, 2006
164
4
18
congrats

proud to see another RPCV like HB with successful marriage
HB has been married to a great lady from Mao for nearly 50 years
my best friend from the Peace Corps was married in 1980 to a teacher from santiago rodriquez and he eventually helped over 40 of her gigantic extended family emigrate to New Jersey
like you, he married not only a nice girl, but a nice family
here's hoping for another 24 great years for you both!
 

Tom F.

Bronze
Jan 1, 2002
699
91
48
Two of my old Peace Corps friends who were in my group also married Dominicans and are still married. There were a number of others from my group but I do not stay in touch. I try to stay in the contact with volunteers around SFM when I am there for an extended visit and marriage rates are still fairly high for volunteers in the DR. I was in a unique situation being my future wife already had her residency when I met her. Peace Corps does a fairly extensive background check on the future spouse of volunteers who get married.
 
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suarezn

Gold
Feb 3, 2002
5,823
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Tom F.: Congrats. Your story is almost exactly like mine but in reverse. In 1987 I was studying in San Francisco de Macoris (Universidad Nordestana) to be a doctor. Got a scholarship to come and study in The US. Met my wife in 1988 as well here in small town USA and this year we will be celebrating our 24 years of her putting up with me and my "Dominicanisms". We have two boys as well.
 

ddoran

Member
Apr 23, 2006
164
4
18
peace corps director married here

Aaron Williams was until recently the US Peace Corps Worldwide Director. He served in the 1960s in the Peace Corps in the Cibao and married a great lady from La Vega. Mr Williams is a tall light skinned African American which meant he had little prejudice towards him in the DR but more back in the USA during that time!