A Capital Region couple who lost touch for more than 30 years used Monday’s total solar eclipse to tie the knot.
As the sky went dark, the light of love shined for the Berrys at Scotia village hall.
For seven years, 62-year-old Lisa Ann Sokolowski and 63-year-old Charles Berry have lived together in Albany. Over time, the friends realized that living their lives together was easy.
Charles, who has suffered several heart attacks in recent years, says since moving in together, they have become each other’s emergency contact. Lisa Ann says it felt like the right time.
“We're not going anywhere, we're not going away from each other, we're not looking elsewhere,” Berry said. “Let's also just make it easier as we hit this age and mortality, and fragility starts to knock a little bit on the door. Being married makes me feel confident, knowing that I can fearlessly go into any ER, or hospital and say, ‘I'm his wife, I want to see him now.’”
But how did they get here? A phone call in the late 2000’s. But it all started well before that.
Charles had transferred to Greenville Central High School in the Hudson Valley because his parents thought he would become a “wild child” if they didn’t move. Charles says on his first day, he walked in and saw a beautiful girl with a great smile. Lisa Ann says he became her hero.
“Back then, in the 70s, the big thing was your boyfriend escorted you from class to class,” Lisa Ann said. “So, I always had him with me. And then from where I lived in Earlton to Berne was probably a good 25 miles round trip. And my parents indulged, driving me out on New Year's Eve, to go spend it with him at his parents’ house.”
They dated on and off in high school.
“It would usually be about 9 months on, 2 months off, and then come back around again. And then, ‘Excuse me, but you've been holding on to my Donna Summer live now for eight weeks, and I would really like to hear it again,” Lisa Ann said.
But like most high school couples, they went their separate ways for college.
“We didn't have cell phones back then. So, once you moved away, and you're not in your parents’ house anymore,” Charles said. “It was hard to reconnect after we after we left Albany.”
Charles went to work in show business, traveling internationally to model, design, and even helping the late Princess of Wales pick out her jewelry for the 1996 Met Gala, famously paired with her so-called “revenge dress.” At the same time, Lisa Ann was working in local journalism before moving to New England where she eventually got a gig as an equestrian journalist.
While living in New York City, Charles went to a play with old friends Dennis McDermott and John Emmett. McDermott now lives in Paris. He and Lisa Anne went to the College of Saint Rose together. He says Charles would often visit Lisa Ann at school. At the play, McDermott asked if anyone had stayed in contact with her.
Charles said he hadn’t, but he never forgot about her.
McDermott says in 1981, it seemed like they were married. In a message to WAMC, McDermott said, “I’m glad they finally did something about it. They complete each other.”
McDermott shared Lisa Ann’s number with Charles and the rest is history.
Soon after, Lisa Ann was on the train to see him.
“Of all of the 365 days of the year that I could have chosen to have come down and to have seen him again, for the first time in three plus decades, it turned out to be the anniversary of Jerry’s passing,” Lisa Ann said.
In 2001, Charles’ long-term partner died from HIV complications. Charles said it changed him and how he viewed relationships, turning him into a hard person.
“I could see that kind of seeping out a little bit. And I didn't like that. I didn't operate on that level. I didn't like sort of being curt with people. I started not wanting to be around people,” Charles said.
That all changed when he saw Lisa Ann at the train station.
“When I first saw her, and I'm not making this up, yes, it was a it was a gray day. But the lights from Grand Central when she was coming towards me, it turned into a sunny day. But yes, the streaming light through Grand Central at the time and she was part of that light and everything was A-OK,” Charles said.
Lisa Ann, who was in a bad marriage at the time, felt the same way.
“I remember it was a cold gray day, in January, and looking out the window at the gray sky and going, ‘What am I doing right now?’ And ‘Why do I feel like this? Is this gonna change my life.”
It did, but it took some time. The two remained friends for years, coming in and out of each other’s lives. They say, whether they realized it or not at the time, they both had careers where true friends were hard to come by and were lacking the love friendship brings. Over the holidays, they began toying with the idea of getting hitched.
“It was very organic,” Charles said. “How it wasn't like ‘Oh, yeah, let's do this,’ We just talked about it. And I said ‘Yeah, OK, good.’ And then she said ‘I found the date.’ And I was like, ‘OK,’ and here we are. So, it was all very easy flow for me.”
The couple was married by village Mayor David Bucciferro, a family friend, before watching the eclipse from the sidewalk where they had just said their vows.
“I am seeing the moon passing from right to left with a big fat fiery crescent of sun still on one side and that glow is just bouncing off of the sidewalk as an eerie light. It really is,” Lisa Ann said.
