Community Corner
Douglaston Native Engaged to Jackson Heights Man
Queens Couple Celebrates With Family at Bayside's Fort Totten
Douglaston's Alice Meenan and Jackson Heights native Peter Valentin celebrated their engagement recently at "The Castle" in Fort Totten Park in Bayside.
No matter how chilly the weather on Saturday, it was warm and inviting inside the 19th Century landmarked headquarters of the Bayside Historical Society.
The couple gathered with their parents, Carolyn and Peter Meenan of Douglaston and Heidi Valentin of College Point.
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Also in attendance were Meenan's brother, Darren, grandmother, Dorothy Trypuc and aunt Geraldine Spinella as well as numerous close friends. The event was held in advance of the couple's planned nuptials next fall.
Valentin, a John Jay College graduate, is currently a detective with the Connecticut State Police and an adjunct Professor of Forensics at the University of Hartford.
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Meenan, a Queens College graduate, is currently an administrator at ACLD, a facility for people with learning and developmental disabilities, in Melville, LI.
The hosts and guests enjoyed drinks, finger foods such as designer cupcakes from Martha's Bakery in Bayside and a multimedia presentation recounting the whirlwind 351-day courtship.
About a year ago, Meehan and Valentin, who had been friends in the past but hadn't seen each other for years, met again.
"I thought he'd like Jen," Meenan said of her attempt to "fix him up" on a blind date with her closest friend, Jennifer Camarda.
"It was obvious that Pete was getting interested in her," Camarda recalled. "Finally, it was like, 'Don't you see it – are you blind?'"
Love may be, but they were not.
Six months later, Valentin, a Mets fan, proposed during a Dave Matthews concert at Citi Field and she accepted.
"I hope this doesn't mean I have to become a Mets fan," the Yankee-loving Meenan observed at the time.
Both baseball and the Bayside Historical Society figure prominently in their story. At an event in May that was attended by the Meenan family, Valentin surreptitiously asked the parents for permission to marry their daughter.
"He's such an old-time gentleman," Camarda said.