Thursday, November 07, 1996
by MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer
He’s 89. She’s 77. For more than a decade, they lived across the street from each other, strangers in their Brooklyn neighborhood.
Yesterday, 14 years after chance brought them together on a bus trip, they tied the knot at City Hall.
And a beaming Mayor Giuliani did the honors.
“I don’t believe this am I dreaming this?” asked an overjoyed Mildred Sussman, choking back tears of joy as she kissed new hubby Al Satloff.
“She is just a very beautiful, very kind lady,” said Satloff.
The storybook courtship took root and flourished at the Trump Houses in Coney Island. Sussman lived in one building, Satloff in another.
In 1982, both signed up for the same bus trip to the Catskills.
Satloff was in the front seat when he saw Sussman struggling with her valise. Ever the gentleman, the Brooklyn retiree helped her with the bag and played Fred to her Ginger during the four-day trip.
Both were alone. His wife had died after 53 years of marriage. And she had lost her husband of 44 years.
After the trip and several dates, they became a happy couple.
“He’s a great dancer, a good lover, everything a girl could dream of,” Sussman said yesterday, recounting how friendship turned to romance.
After living apart, the couple decided to make the relationship official.
Michele Heitzner, a former Coney Island district leader who is a friend of the couple, and Giuliani arranged for the wedding ceremony in the City Hall Blue Room.
Sussman wore a periwinkle blue dress with handkerchief bottom. Satloff sported a blue, pinstriped suit.
The bride’s son, Mark, 52, his wife, Marilyn, and other relatives and friends witnessed the nuptials. Giuliani pronounced himself honored to formalize their union, then pronounced the happy couple husband and wife.
GRAPHIC: THOMAS MONASTER DAILY NEWS PIECE O’ CAKE: Newlyweds Al Satloff, 89, and Mildred Sussman, 77, dig in after City Hall nuptials yesterday. Mayor Giuliani officiated at the wedding.
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