Ariane de Gennaro

Last week, Bill and Louise Beaumont visited Claire’s Cornercopia for a take-home Valentine’s Day dinner. Both of them have frequented Claire’s since “around ‘78,” according to Louise. Over the phone, they told me that Claire’s has been their “happy place” in the 32 years they have been married, as well as the first spot to go whenever there’s an occasion to celebrate.

Bill first met Louise in New Haven during their time as students at Southern Connecticut State University. Although they attended college at the same time, Bill was ten years older than Louise, and they remained as friends throughout the years. While Louise started attending college soon after high school, Bill came from a blue-collar family and played in bands for several years before going to school. 

“Because I came from the type of background I did, you didn’t go to college, you know — you went to work,” Bill explained. “When I was around 28 or so, somebody talked to me about going to school, and I looked into it … and I got in!”

The couple met through a mutual friend, and Louise remembers Bill as a jokester in college. The first time he ever spoke to her, he tested out a joke for his shift on the campus radio station, where he would try to drum up “off-the-wall” material. Unfortunately, that first joke didn’t seem to land for Louise.  

“The first words he ever spoke to me were, ‘Do you know why they call it a door prize?’ And I looked at him and was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ ‘Yeah, when you win it, do they take the thing off the hinges and say congratulations?’” Louise recounted. “And so I said to my friend, ‘Leanne, I don’t know who you’re hanging around with, but you know, widen your circle because this guy’s a nut.’”

After they graduated, the two friends went their separate ways. Bill, unbeknownst to Louise and their other friends, quickly moved out to California to take care of his mother as she battled illness. Ten years later, Bill returned to Connecticut to attend a college friend’s wedding where he and Louise became reacquainted. 

They went out for dinner together soon after, where Louise listened to Bill lament over a cheating ex-girlfriend. She remembers having a moment straight out of the movie “Moonstruck,” when Cher slapped her love interest in frustration and told him to “snap out of it.”

Louise said, “I just wanted to go, ‘You snap out of it! all women aren’t like that. Some women are good women, and why are you going out with these women?’ And that was, what, a year-and-a-half later? We were married.” 

Louise was 29 years old when she married Bill. She told me most of her friends got married in their early twenties when they believed marriage was “like Cinderella,” then got divorced soon after. Louise said her maturity helped her prepare for the ups and downs of marriage and that one of the keys to their happiness together is knowing when to “pick your battles.” As Christians, they also turn to their faith and prayer for guidance at rocky patches. 

The couple never had any children, but they had one “fur baby” for 17 years — a cat that passed away last year. This left them free to spend time together and with friends. Bill and Louise raved about their favorite things to do together over the years, including going to shows, hitting the karaoke bar every Friday and hopping in the car and getting “lost.” Laughter and “the little things” have kept them happily married for the past three decades. 

Louise said, “A couple of nights ago, I was in the middle of doing my crafts, and I forgot my slippers and it was freezing. And so I was just like, ‘my feet are cold,’ and he comes in here and brings me my slippers.”

I let out an “awww,” and Louise exclaimed to Bill, “See that? That’s how women see it, you don’t understand that… this means more!”

Meanwhile, Bill said that Louise makes him laugh easily, constantly keeping him on his toes. Louise, being “shameless,” likes to break out into song when they go to the store together. He usually gives up on trying to get her to stop. 

Bill and Louise know each other inside-out. Although Bill is “no mind-reader by any means,” he has the freaky ability to vocalize whatever Louise is thinking. As we chatted, Louise had a habit of finishing Bill’s sentences, and they often burst into laughter together. 

Another key to their happy marriage is curiosity. Louise said she loves being with Bill because she gets to stick around for the “wackiest things” he says and does, quite like the first time they met. For them, there’s always something new around the corner.

Bill and Louise enjoy surprising each other with new experiences or visiting places for occasions like Valentine’s Day. They don’t shop for gifts for each other because, according to Louise, they already have “more stuff than [they] know what to do with.” Once again, they mentioned going to Claire’s for celebrations, in addition to times Louise has surprised Bill with tickets to a ball game or times they’ve traveled down mysterious roads. 

Bill retired from working in customer service at insurance companies about 10 years ago, and has since returned to his roots: playing in bands. Louise started working at home during the pandemic, and she told me she loves it. 

“At the end of the day, there’s nobody I’d rather be married to,” Louise said.

Bill added, “And I didn’t even pay her to say that.”