50 Year Anniversary Couple

Celebrates on the Vineyard

It was June of 1956 and Richard (Dick) Bauer was working as a bellhop at the Harbor View Hotel. He also tended bar on Sunday night and was earning money for divinity school, having just graduated from Wesleyan University. Virginia (Ginny) Brown had just graduated from the Norwich Free Academy high school in Norwich, Conn. She was working as a nanny for the Hill family in Edgartown before she headed off to Smith College in the fall. On her day off, she took a fateful stroll at Lighthouse Beach where she saw Dick. She got her nerve up and asked him where there was a spot with less seaweed (not that there was a lot of seaweed).

After their conversation, Dick asked Ginny out on a date. However, Dick was never good with directions and got lost on his way to the Hill’s house. Despite his tardiness, Ginny forgave him and Dick knew Ginny was a good catch. On Oct. 6, 1956, Dick asked Ginny to be pinned, presenting her with his fraternity pin. They maintained a long-distance romance while in school. In the summer of 1958 they returned to the Vineyard to work at the Harbor View. He again tended bar and served as a bellhop and she worked as a cleaning lady.

On June 20, 1959, Ginny and Dick Bauer were married in Norwich, Conn. For their honeymoon, they went to Nantucket Island, and not only missed the last ferry, but also endured a week of rain. Although the Bauers have only been back to Nantucket a few times, they have returned to the Vineyard many times and it continues to hold a special place in their hearts. This weekend, the Bauers will be returning to the Vineyard to celebrate their 50th at the Island where it all began, including enjoying a luncheon at the Harbor View Hotel.

Joining them this weekend are their daughter, Cindy McGrath, her husband, David, and their grandsons Sam and Ben from Norwood, Mass., who get to the Vineyard whenever they can, including every summer for the past 10 years; their son, Andy Bauer, and his wife Susan (Goodman), from Farmington, Conn.; Ginny’s sister, Nancy Iskra, and her husband, David, and their sons, Justin and Jesse, who have a home in Oak Bluffs; Dick’s brother, Doug Bauer, and his wife, Alison, from McLean, Va., and Susan’s parents, Dr. and Mrs. Lawrence Goodman of Longmeadow, Mass. The Bauers also have a son, Steve, and his wife, Mary, who live in San Diego, Calif. Since their marriage, the Bauers have lived in Naugatuck, Conn., Swansea, N.H., Concord and Newton, Mass., Farmington and Simsbury, Conn. They currently live in a retirement community in Easthampton, Mass.