Today, in a world of internet dating, life and relationships aren’t always easy. Mike and Cathy Verzal met in childhood over 60 years ago and have stayed the course.
It all began when Mike’s family chose to build their new home on Longview Court in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Cathy and her family, the Shorts, already lived on this street and were curious about who their new neighbors would be.
Cathy said, “I watched the Verzals’ new home being built along with my brothers and sister and the other neighborhood kids.”
More than 60 years ago, Mike and Cathy Verzal met as neighbors. Today, they’ve been married for 48 years. (Photo by Christine Such/My Sun Day News)
Cathy’s parents and Mike’s parents became good friends, often having dinner together or enjoying a night of cards with other couples from the neighborhood.
Mike said, “I remember once, when Mr.& Mrs. Short played cards with my parents, Cathy was out with some friends tobogganing and needed a ride home. Mr. Short asked me if I could go pick up Cathy. I was more than a bit surprised when I got there to pick her up because she was with another boy, and I ended up giving him a ride home. We still laugh about that today. Fortunately, that didn’t last.”
Cathy and Mike did say that outdoor games helped bring them together.
Mike said. “I enjoyed all kinds of sports, but I especially liked basketball. I’d spend hours shooting hoops on the driveway, which Cathy could see from her backdoor. As time passed, her older brother, also named Mike, would tease her about how much time she spent watching me, ‘The Verz,’ as he called me, practice. He knew she had a crush on me.”
Cathy said, “By the time I was a sophomore at Brookfield East High School the Turn-About-Dance was coming up. I wanted to ask Mike to the dance, but I couldn’t get up the courage. So, the following year, my sister Maggie said, you can’t chicken out again. She dialed the Verzals’ number, she handed the phone to me and said, ask him. Thankfully, Mike said yes.”
The second date came soon afterward when Mike invited Cathy to the Senior Follies at Marquette High, where he attended school.
Cathy said, “We dated from then on. Mike graduated and went on to White Water University, and the following year, I started at Cardinal Stritch College in Milwaukee. Eventually, Mike transferred to Stritch. We decided to get married between junior and senior year in June of 1976. We would end up graduating together in 1977. Mike started a career in the real estate industry, and I began teaching.”
Cathy and Mike bought their first house in 1978 in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin and started their family. Their son, David, was born in 1979.
Mike and Cathy Verzal on their wedding night in 1976. (Photo provided)
Mike recalled how excited he was to share the news with family and friends. “On the way home from the hospital, I stopped to get McDonalds. I popped it in the oven to warm it up and started making calls, but I realized I had forgotten to remove the styrofoam container. Needless to say, that dinner got tossed. Katie and then Joe soon joined our growing family. It was a busy time with three little ones aged three, 19 months, and a newborn.”
The Verzals moved around the country for Mike’s job, and Cathy obtained her teaching license in several states. Cathy once said she would follow Mike anywhere and kept her word.
“For our 25th anniversary, our parents gave us a trip to Italy. Cathy said I had never been out of the country except for Canada. It was beautiful,” Cathy said.
They decided to retire in Illinois, where all three of their children live with their spouses and seven grandchildren. Cathy said, “We visited Del Webb Sun City in 2000 with a relative of Mike’s who was checking it out and knew it would be a great place to retire when we were old enough. We moved here in August of 2017.”
Mike said, “We enjoy our neighbors. I play pickleball and have made many friends, belong to the Lions Club, and have a tandem bike that we enjoy.”
Cathy said, “I love to bake and enjoy swimming, walking, and exercising every day. We both are active at St. Mary’s and bring communion to the homebound. Our tandem bike goes with our slogan, ‘Working in tandem with you to get you home.’ We are both realtors for Berkshire Hathaway Home Services-Starck Real Estate.”
Cathy and Mike have successfully worked and lived in tandem and will be celebrating their 48th anniversary as man and wife; they will also be celebrating a lifelong friendship that started in grammar school.
