Once upon a time, like in a fairy tale, a man and a woman fell in love. Not unlike a fairy tale the happy ending could not come before a story had been told, a story that crossed an ocean and lasted nearly half a century. Though separated by seas and by time, the couple's love remained and now in a gazebo in a Mineola park, the impossible has become possible as that love was realized in marriage.

English is new to Horst Hirschmann, so his new wife Trudy took the role of storyteller. Despite his limited knowledge of the language, Horst was an active participant in the conversation, and no matter what was said it was quite clear that in any language Horst understands Trudy.

Beaming with happiness the couple told their story, in a manner that glowed only slightly less iridescent than the aura the two cast simply in one another's company. Perhaps it is appropriate then that the undeniably happy couple were likened to love struck teenagers as they have revitalized something inside of them that began when the two were children in Germany.

"It's as if the years between never existed," said Trudy.

The two were born and raised in a small German village named Hochspyer Pfalz in a time of injustice. It was just after World War II and there were no opportunities, no freedoms, mostly it was hard work just to survive.

Despite the daily hardships, one bright light for the two children came in the form of one another. Horst was a conscientious and respectful young man who worked hard to excel in school. Trudy was a self-described bubbly young girl who did silly things. "She still does," commented Horst in German, to which Trudy erupted in laughter.

The two decided to marry, but the customs of the time called for the bride to have a dowry. To earn money for her dowry Trudy planned to move to England, but a teacher steered her toward the United States instead, and Trudy moved to a new life a world away for what she thought would be two years.

The plan changed when a homesick Trudy met Henry Weiershauser, a German speaking supermarket manager who swept her off her feet and made her his bride. Trudy remained in the United States, settling in Mineola 40 years ago and raising two girls: Lisa and Linda.

Back in Germany, Horst built a successful CPA practice waiting for Trudy, but three and a half years after Trudy's marriage, Horst married a German woman and raised a son and a daughter of his own.

Though the two kept tabs on one another for years, they never directly communicated, opting instead to use the inherent grapevines their families in Hochspyer Pfalz provided. Both Trudy and Horst agreed that any dreams of marriage to one another were put to rest.

This all changed when in October of 1997 Horst was told that Trudy would be returning to their small village to attend a school reunion. Hearing this Horst, now a widower of four years, called America and asked Trudy, a widow of nine years, if she would have dinner with him.

Instead of one dinner date, the couple spent every day together touring the countryside and catching up on time spent apart. This time spent together yielded a lesson that only experience could discern.

"The young years you have a lot of hang-ups, you feel different on the inside than the outside shows and the feeling is that the other person should know how you feel," said Trudy, "Now there is communication and we feel comfortable with one another. We talk about anything and everything."

In March of this year Horst visited America for the first time. What struck Horst most about America? New York, Jones Beach and of course Trudy. "As long as I am there he told me," said Trudy.

Without a word the two arrived at a conclusion that to them seemed impossible, but to some seemed inevitable. "We kind of knew without saying," said Trudy and a wedding was soon to follow.

The ceremony, made simple by request, was conducted by Mineola Mayor John P. Colbert. The ceremony was friendly and filled with laughter as the two wed surrounded by a modest group of family and friends in the gazebo at Mineola Memorial Park on Wednesday, Aug. 12.

Trudy, an avid swimmer, met many of her friends who were attending the wedding at the Mineola pool, and she joked that perhaps it would have been more fitting to have the wedding there. However, the choice of the park filled with children could be no more fitting. What other place could be more fitting in honoring two childhood sweethearts who have finally married, than the place where perhaps two Mineola sweethearts are meeting for the first time. And who to better appreciate the happy ending of a fairy tale than children.

However, in a fairy tale, "The End" signifies the end of the story, so to use this expression now would be incorrect, because for Trudy and Horst the story, though well under way, is only beginning.