A 70th wedding anniversary is known as the platinum anniversary, a metal that is precious, strong, enduring and does not tarnish, all qualities that exemplify the union of Kathryn and Frank Biasini.

The couple met in 1948 at a dance hall in Roseton and tied the knot on December 23, 1950 at Our Lady of Mercy mission church in Roseton. A reception was held at the Spruce Lodge in Montgomery, followed by a brief honeymoon at the Swiss Courts in New Jersey before Frank, then a Navy man, had to report back to his ship on Sunday evening.

“That’s one of the first sacrifices we had to make,” he said.

Frank, 93, and Kathryn at 91 still regularly attend church at St. Mary’s in Marlboro.

Frank recalls that a friend, Myles Doyle, picked him up one evening and the two went to a dance hall in Roseton. Upon arrival, “there were three girls standing there who were waiting to go to Class Night. They were shooting the breeze but I didn’t know them but I was introduced to them. Kathryn was quiet and didn’t say too much.”

Frank thought to himself, “someday I’d like to date that girl.” He got that opportunity when he and Tony Pagano, who was dating a girl from Roseton, drove to Roseton for a double date, “and lo and behold it was Kathryn.”

Kathryn recalls that Frank, “kept coming down to my house and to the dance hall and that’s how I stayed with him.”

During the couple’s two year courtship, Frank received a notice from the Defense Department in 1950.

“I didn’t want to go into the Army so I enlisted in the Navy,” he said. “We wanted to get married but I knew there were going to be a lot of sacrifices.”
After three months of boot camp in Newport, Rhode Island, Frank was assigned to the destroyer U.S.S. Harwood DD 861 at Narragansett Bay. On his first weekend off, the couple got married in Roseton. In July 1952 their first child, Kathy, was born, followed by Theresa, Marianne and their last child, Frank Jr., in 1964. Today, the couple have 12 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.

Frank was honorably discharged in the fall of 1954 and began his career in construction. The couple first lived on Henry Avenue in Newburgh and in 1960 Frank began building their present home “in my spare time,” on River Road in Newburgh and moved in by 1962.

In answering the age old question on what is the secret of a long and successful marriage, Kathryn quickly answered, “to have respect for one another” followed by Frank’s comments that, “we were happy together and whenever there was a little problem we’d sit down and we would talk about it, come to a decision and that’s what we did.” Kathryn said they never had a terrible argument between them.

Kathryn laughed when their 70th anniversary was mentioned.

“No it doesn’t seem like 70, the years just went by and the good Lord saved the both of us and thank God we’re still here,” she said.