50th Wedding Anniversary

Bozenna and Richard Gilbride.

On December 27th, 2006, Bozenna (nee Urbanowicz) and Richard V. Gilbride will observe their 50th wedding anniversary with a Mass at Our Lady of Poland Church in Southampton. In this day and age it is inspiring to see that marriages can and do last a lifetime. The Gilbrides took their vows seriously.

They were married in St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where the Urbanowicz family settled after immigrating to America as survivors of the Holocaust of WW-II. Richard V. Gilbrides grew up in Rockaway Beach, N.Y. A mutual friend introduced them at a football game where Richard immediately told his friends “That’s the girl I’m going to marry.” In the bridal party were sisters, brothers and close friends and of course a flower girl and a ring bearer. There was a typical wedding reception of that time: at the parish hall, Polish food, the priest was invited, but the band played mostly American music out of respect for Richard’s American family.

They raised four children in Garden City, where they lived for thirty years before retiring to Southampton. In time, three grandsons joined the family. Family members are coming from as far as North Carolina to join in the festivities. After church the family will be taken by the North Fork Trolley to lunch at Jedediah Hawkins Inn in Jamesport.