Hermine, 82, and Vincent Confreda, 86, celebrated their 60th anniversary on April 6 and they will be celebrating again on October 8. In 1955 the couple had two marriage ceremonies, the first in Austria and the second in the Unites States. To “keep the peace” the couple is celebrating both.

The couple met on New Year’s Eve in 1954 while Vincent was stationed with the Army in Austria. Hermine Himetzberger came to the party with her girlfriend, who was married to another soldier in Vincent’s company. Vincent went to the party with his own date, but after that date was too drunk to dance, he began mingling with other girls at the soiree.

“I had a ball that night and I eyed her up,” Vincent said.

The next day the couple went on a date to “5 o’clock tea” and danced all night even though Vincent “stepped all over her toes.”

Barely a month after Hermine and Vincent met he was discharged from the Army and sent back to the States.

“When I was leaving I told her I’d be back to marry her,” Vincent said. “I’m a man of my word.”

Hermine, who grow up in a small town in Austria, didn’t believe him.

“I was never a believer,” Hermine said. “I never thought he would come back. There was too much water between us.”

In April 1955, Vincent returned for Hermine.

The couple had corresponded with letters in their time apart, but Hermine was so sure that Vincent wouldn’t return she didn’t go to the airport to pick him up, but rather sent a friend to see if it was a joke. Vincent walked off the plane in Austria to find his future wife.

They had a ceremony at the local justice of the peace with Hermine’s family. Then Vincent returned to the family farm in Warwick for the planting season. His new wife followed a few months later at the end of July.

Her first image of America was a “dirty” New York.

“When I first got off the plane in New York, I thought, Oh, what am I getting myself into,” Hermine said.

Vincent said, “We both took a heck of a chance on each other.”

Once both were stateside, the couple lived in separate quarters because Vincent’s family didn’t recognize the marriage because it wasn’t conducted in a Catholic Church. The couple didn’t mind, they still saw each other every day.

The Confreda family was very supportive, they just wanted the couple to have a church wedding.

Vincent’s parents arrived in this country from Italy in a different era. When his mother came she had to get married before officially entering the country.

Vincent said back then it was either get married or “go back. I’m happy, Hermine didn’t go back.”

“I only had a one-way ticket,” Hermine added.

The Confredas held a large Italian wedding in October 1955 and then traveled to Washington, D.C. for their honeymoon.

Now, the couple each celebrates one of the anniversary dates. Hermine celebrates in April and Vincent celebrates in October. This past April the Confreda family went to the Spain restaurant to celebrate, but the couple says there won’t be any big celebration.

Every few years the couple would visit Hermine’s family in Austria.

“It was hard for my family to see me go, but they understood,” Hermine said.

The couple still works at Confreda Farm a few hours a day. They said the secret to a long and happy marriage is keeping busy.

Vincent said, “We were always busy, the both of us, we were too tired to ever fight. Then life just went by so fast.”

Hermine said of course they have had arguments before, but they never lasted long.

“We get along pretty good for 60 years together,” Vincent joked. “We always worked everything out.”