By Joyce DeWallace, Contributing Writer
Shrewsbury – On a recent perfect Sunday evening, Andrea and John Ahern, longtime Shrewsbury residents, gathered with family and friends under a large white tent set up on a lawn overlooking the bay in Newport, R.I. to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.? The invitation was to join the couple in a celebration of love and life. The guests reminisced and shared many laughs about their longtime connections with the couple.
Daughter Beth Hyatt and her husband Joe of Bedford, N.H. were in attendance, as they ?juggled their one-year- old daughter and three-year-old twins with the help of a sitter and other family members including their older son Joe, who is 15. Son John Ahern and his wife Diane traveled from Ridgefield, Conn. with their three children to join the festivities and to roast his dad.
Monsignor James Cassidy, who had married the Aherns in 1964 when he was pastor of St. Barnabas Church in the Bronx, N.Y., traveled up from New York City to give the blessing and share memories of the couple.
The elder Ahern, serving as Master of Ceremonies, introduced many of the guests who had traveled from all over the country. They included a friend he had met in first grade and his sister Geraldine Linn, who traveled from Scarsdale, N.Y. It also included friends he had met when he attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, and from when he served in Vietnam. His special gift to his wife was a rendition of the song, “Hallelujah” that he had rehearsed and then sang for her and their guests.
The Aherns both still work; John as president and CEO of Compass Securities Corporation in Braintree and Andrea as a travel agent with Travel Solutions in Westborough.? They share a love of traveling, dancing, and bicycling.? Their children joked that their parents rarely miss a movie, never arrive on time and love that they spend as much time as possible with their seven grandchildren.
After their 50th wedding anniversary party was joyfully commemorated, all agreed, it was an important milestone worthy of attention and celebration.