Jennifer Cooke, a resident of the Village of Garden City, was sitting in Times Square in the afternoon on Dec. 31, 1999 awaiting the countdown to the new millennium in the heart of one of the world's biggest New Year's Parties as she tried to keep her boyfriend Curt Ritter company. Ritter, a member of Mayor Giuliani's press office, was preparing to give an interview to a reporter with ABC on the economic impact of the New Year's celebration on the City of New York, or so Cooke thought. The afternoon and evening of one of the most exciting nights in history took a much more exciting turn for Cooke than she had expected.

As they made their way through the millions of people crowded into Times Square, Cooke saw a giant screen advertisement targeting men interested in proposing on television on New Year's Eve. Ritter, hoping she wouldn't see the sign, cringed when she commented, "Don't you ever think about proposing to me on TV. It's so cheesy." It seems that Ritter wasn't really going to give an interview on economics. He had arranged with his press contacts at ABC to have his interview become an on-air proposal. Just the very thing Cooke said she hoped he'd never do.

At 4:17 p.m. just as the interview was about to begin, and family and friends of Ritter and Cooke were, as Ritter put it, "glued to the TV waiting on pins and needles," and saw Ritter standing there next to the ABC journalist for the interview, it was announced that ABC would break away to Colorado where a press conference was being given on missile launches. Friends of the couple were on their way to New England for some skiing and pulled over into a rest stop just to watch the broadcast. What they and all of the couple's friends and family saw instead was a military officer explain that he could not talk about the missiles with the Russians in the room for what seemed like an eternity.

For almost two hours Cooke and Ritter waited in a trailer, Dick Clarke's booth, and the ABC studio at Times Square for another opportunity for the fictional economic development interview. Ritter grew more and more nervous as he contemplated the comment Cooke had made earlier and all of the people now waiting for the on-air question. Finally at ten to six on New Year's Eve it was official -- the interview couldn't be aired. There was no more time. Ritter turned to Cooke and confessed his plan as he pulled the ring box from a pocket.

An ABC producer pulled out a camera and snapped some shots of the happy couple as Cooke joyfully accepted the proposal and said she was glad it didn't happen on TV. Ritter, relieved and excited says now, in an interview with Garden City Life that did take place on Monday morning as this paper went to press, that the moment couldn't have been more perfect in the midst of the excitement and energy of Times Square on the eve of not only a new year, but a new century and a new millennium. "I realized it wasn't about doing it on TV; it was about that night and being together. Jen's so happy it didn't happen on TV."

The couple met through mutual friends. Cooke attended Holy Cross; Ritter, who grew up in the Mooristown, Mt. Vernon area of New Jersey, attended Arizona State, but many of his friends from home went to Holy Cross. Over their spring breaks his Holy Cross friends visited him in Arizona for the warmth and he spent his spring breaks at Holy Cross for the skiing. Over the years he got to know many people at Holy Cross, but it wasn't until he joined some friends at the Holy Cross five year reunion for the class of 1993 that he pursued his interest in Cooke, whom he had met at parties and other social events before. Ritter says he called friends and asked about her and got her number. The rest, as "they" say "is history."

Jennifer Cooke and Curt Ritter are planning a November or December 2000 wedding. Ritter added that everyone "keeps telling [him] that eleven months is not very much time to plan a wedding, but Jen's twin sister got married recently and so she and Jen's mother are helping plan and are already scouting out places." He says they are both very excited and look forward to spending the next New Year's Eve as husband and wife.