Julie Doerge

We always hear about “love at first sight.” But is it really possible to look across a crowded room, make eye contact with someone and just know — know you want to spend the rest of your life with that person and never look back?

Jack was nowhere to be seen. Sitting with her best friend at a table in Archibalds in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Julie Pino sipped on her white wine, deciding whether to keep waiting or just get up and leave. This was the first time Jack had ever stood her up. It wasn’t like him to miss a date.

As Julie paid the bill and walked out to her 1977 powder blue Monte Carlo, she tried to shake off the feelings of anger that come with getting stood up on a date. After all, “car dealers were a dime a dozen in Detroit.”

As soon as she got back to her apartment, she dialed her mom and told her about Jack not showing up to their date.

“Oh good, your sister’s having a party tonight,” her mom said.

“So?”

“Well, why don’t you come?”

At 22-years-old — six years older than her sister, high school junior Kelly — Julie wasn’t interested in socializing with a bunch of 16-year-olds at her parents’ house.

“Mom, I hate her friends,” Julie said. “I’m not coming.”

“Oh, well I think some teachers are coming from her private school.”

“No mom, I’m not coming.” Julie hung up the phone.

She looked around her apartment but couldn’t decide what to do, so, still dressed up in her black pants and top, she picked the phone back up.

“Ok, I don’t have anything else going on. I’m coming over.

Sandy had just finished watching his students’ reproduction of the 1971 Broadway play Twigs when he decided to stop by their cast party and congratulate them on their performance. A 30-yearold native of Port Arthur, Texas, Sandy Doerge was a German instructor at Cranbrook, an all-boys private preparatory school located in the suburbs north of Metro Detroit. He also taught some of the girls from nearby Kingswood. One of these girls was Kelly Pino.

As soon as he walked inside the Pino house, Kelly came up to him and said, “You need to go to the kitchen.”

“Why?” Sandy asked, puzzled at such a cryptic request.

“Cause my sister’s there.”

Still unsure what she was talking about, Sandy let Kelly pull him into the kitchen.

“This is my sister Julie. Isn’t she beautiful?”

Taken aback at the bluntness of Kelly’s question, Sandy replied almost immediately, “Of course she is,” just to be polite, but then he realized he truly meant it. She was beautiful.

After Kelly introduced them, she left, and the two of them began talking. Pretty soon, Sandy noticed a ring on the fourth finger of Julie’s left hand.

“Oh, are you engaged?” he asked.

“Oh, no, no.” Julie quickly slipped it off. The ring was just a gift from a friend.

Eventually, Sandy asked Julie if she wanted to dance. She said yes, and they walked into the next room where others were also dancing. As they began to dance, Johnny Mathis’s Misty began to play.

Walk my way And a thousand violins begin to play Or it might be the sound of your hello That music I hear I get Misty the moment you’re near

The echoey jazz piano. Mathis’ crooning voice.The dim lights. All of it came together as Sandy and Julie looked into each other’s eyes.

And they just knew — they were going to spend the rest of their lives together.

After seeing each other every day for two weeks, Sandy and Julie were having dinner at Julie’s apartment. Two seniors from Cranbrook — Sandy’s students — were also there. They were having steak, broccoli and baked potatoes. After they had finished eating, around 9:30 p.m., Sandy grabbed Julie’s hand in his and looked into her eyes.

“I’ve got a question for you,” he said.

“Okay?” “Do you want to be Mrs. I absolutely Doerge?” he asked. believe in love at “What took you so long?” first sight . . . as They picked out the ring long as Johnny together at a local family Mathis is playing. jeweler’s, got married on November 19, 1977 — the same church as Julie’s parents — and have been married for 43 years — “43 glorious years.”

Story Robert Pou, Eric Yoo, Grant Jackson Photos Courtesy Julie Doerge

After I got engaged, I called Jack and told him, and he said, “What? You’re what?! I’ve only not seen you for two weeks.” You could tell he was upset, obviously. And then he asked, “Ok, so what kind of car does he drive, a Volkswagen?” And I said, “No, actually a Subaru.” But it was all about the car, right, because he was this fancy Pontiac dealer.

Julie and Sandy Doerge pictured througout the years from their wedding day, November 19, 1977 to the present. They celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary this year.

The youngest Doerges, twins Alex and Katie, are now 28. Katie is a nurse at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, and Alex is an intellectual property attorney in New York.