Even fewer get married after that kind of time together.
But last Septemberâin the middle of a pandemicâJoAnn Bisesi, 72, and Jeanne Dagonese, 71, finally made it official.
The couple, who met in high school in the 1960s, remained friends, on and off, after graduation. They ended up in the same bowling league; they stood up in mutual friendsâ wedding ceremonies. As platonic friends, they eventually took vacations togetherâto the Bahamas, âbefore it was much of anything,â and finally, in 1971, to Toronto, âwhich is when things really sparked,â said JoAnn.
Of course, things were very different 50 years ago for same-sex couples. And both women came from traditional Italian families, where relationships like theirs often went unacknowledgedâand unannounced.