Meet Ann and Gene from Buffalo, NY

Ann is of Spanish, Puerto Rican, English and Irish heritage. She is the youngest of five children. She grew up all over the East Coast and in Puerto Rico. Her father was an accountant. Their family would relocate to wherever the companies that hired him required. She said, “Home was never a place such as a structure or a location. For me, home was wherever my family was.” Gene is of English, Irish, and German heritage. He is one of six. He jokingly said, “I was supposed to be the youngest until my mother, at 42 years, old had twins! They knocked me out of the youngest seat and stole my thunder. Some of my favorite childhood memories took place in Allegheny State Park. Every summer, my parents would pack us up and move us there for four weeks. We lived in a cabin with minimal resources, surrounded by the great outdoors. When the twins came along, my parents bought a washing machine to bring with along with us.” The couple met 50 years ago in a sandwich shop where Ann was working. Gene was working for a landscaping company and would frequent the shop for lunch. At the time, she was dating someone else. As time passed, her boss told Ann that she did not care for the person that she was dating, but that she thought Gene was a great catch. Eventually, Ann became single and Gene took that opportunity to invite her out to dinner. They will celebrate 47 years of marriage in May. Gene said, “After Ann’s childhood of moving from place to place, I became the rock that held her in a stable place. We have three beautiful children that were born and raised in Buffalo and they are still living there with our grandchildren!” Gene is an entrepreneur and owns his own financial company that they both work for. Taking time away from the company has proven to be a challenge. A couple of years ago, one of their son-in-law‘s gave them a shadowbox that had a world map and pins inside. When he gave it to them, he said, “Now when you travel, you’re supposed to put a pin in every place you visit, or you could just put all the pins here in Buffalo!” The couple made a pact to get out and explore the world as much as they could. Last year, for their 46th wedding anniversary, they went to Ireland and just recently they returned from Panama. This past Christmas, Gene gifted Ann 12 beautiful boxes, one for every month of the year. He filled each box with a thoughtfully preplanned adventure away from Buffalo. They are allowed to make adaptations to the plan and allow themselves to just go with the flow. This is how they ended up on an unexpected, underground adventure at Howe Caverns! Ann said, “My favorite thing about Gene is is that he is incredibly kind and patient. He is very faith-based in everything that he does. He is dedicated to our community by teaching through the church.” Gene said, “My favorite thing about Ann is that she is very whimsical. It shows up in everything she does. Especially her art. While she has received monetary compensation for her art, she prefers to donate it to causes that will benefit those in need through auctioning it.” The one thing the couple wants to tell the world is, “Keep it simple. Less is more.” Ann and Gene, thank you so much for visiting!