It was in the late afternoon on Valentine’s Day when I saw Paul and Willee Short linking arms and admiring an Alex and Ani display window. I had the pleasure of interviewing the couple, despite the cold weather, about how they came to be.
They met on Manasquan Beach in New Jersey, July 1947. Willee was 14 years old when she was sitting on the beach watching a few teenagers play a softball game. That’s when Paul’s friend came up to her and invited her to join the game. When asked about his initial thoughts of Willee, Paul joked, “Well the black bathing suit does it all.” From then on, they met every summer afterward.
Paul Short remained best friends with her while growing up despite the fact that they went to separate colleges and he was drafted in the war. Willee Short even recalled a time when she was engaged to another man. She said, “I knew I had to have Paul meet him. Paul was my best friend and I wanted his approval.” Paul Short, in fact, didn’t approve of the man but she had said that the relationship ended up not working out well anyways.
After 15 years of friendship, it was on June 30th, 1962 when the couple decided to get married. “This June it’ll be 52 years,” Willee said as she scrunched her facial features, making a silly face at her husband. When I congratulated them on their anniversary this upcoming summer, Paul Short told me that people ask them every year for their anniversary, “What are you going to do this time?” He exclaimed, “We don’t even know what we’re doing next week!”
Paul Short currently works as a publisher for college textbooks whereas, Willee Short described herself as a stay-at-home mom. However, her husband nudged her and disagreed saying “No no you use to work at that daycare.” To which Willee Short told me, “Oh well I use to run a daycare at my local church in Morris Plains, New Jersey.”
As I thanked the couple for their time and interview, Willee Short had told me about an ongoing joke between her and her best friend. She quoted her friend saying, “Whoever marries Paul Short will be a lucky girl because he’s such a nice guy.”
“And now look at me, I married him!” Willee Short joked as her husband gazed off with a small smile growing across his face.
