A BHS love story

Toni Szilagyi, 1968

George Frigerio, 1968

We who are Facebook friends with our BHS’68 classmate Tonia Szilagyi Mapston have witnessed something beautiful over the weekend. A few months ago, she posted something very mysterious—about her life changing unexpectedly. On this blog we did report that it was two years ago that her beloved husband of 45 years, Darrell Mapston, passed away after a heart attack. The Mapstons had four daughters, Danielle, Tara, Nicole, and Tiffany, and eight grandchildren.

A couple of months ago, I seemed to notice that another BHS’68 classmate, George Frigerio, began commenting on nearly every post Tonia wrote. And she changed her Facebook relationship to “It’s complicated” as of May 23, 2017. Hmmm…

When I sent out the “Save the Date” notice about our 50th Class Reunion, and George wrote, “ME AND THE BOSS ARE TALKING ABOUT IT!” Was he referring to Tonia?

Then this tell-tale post appeared on Tonia’s Facebook wall:

On November 2, Tonia posted a picture of her boots with the caption: “Leavin’ on a jet plane ✈️ yet again! Philly bound … three week vacay, here I come! 😉” On a hunch, I checked the database of Burbank High Class of 1968 graduates, and found out that George lives in Pennsylvania!

I began checking Facebook every hour for updates to this post!

Over the weekend, another BHS’68 classmate, Teri Hill Clark, posted this: “These two have been carrying on for months! Actually tip toeing around it for, what? A year? I just happened into the mix via geography😉 I’m sure they will spill the whole story for a class reunion blurb! It is totally sweet and romantic!

And Tonia wrote this: “sparks in HS, a year and a half reconnected, seven months serious … bulletins as they break … he has asked me to go steady (HS ring and letterman’s jacket) lol … and I said … wait for it … Yes! 😉 He plied me with bouquets of les fleurs, sweet 🎼, chocolates, and vino 🍷🍷! He makes me laugh and smile! Happy dance! Who’d a thunk! Out of left field! Neither looking and Shazam! The brainiac as he called me in HS and the jock aka the brat and the pest! I do not let him get away with nuttin’ and he was a pest everyday in HS in the bio lab attempting to get me in trouble with Mr. Buckner and Mr. Bugg! 😂 Life certainly took Us on a circuitous route to Us! I am twice blessed in this arena of life … hubby and the Pest! 😉

Tonia further explained:

“lost touch after high school grad night but weird connections kept happening we discovered along the way or after the fact … him being on a flight with my cousin and realizing they had me in common, being back in Burbank at same time after both being gone many years, being in North Carolina nearby towns same time … reconnected inadvertently over FB, a mutual friend, a daughter of mine going back to July 2016 … evolved to Messenger on 2/14/17 … phone 4/2017 … video chat 7/2017 and the rest is history! Took it slow! Nothing forced! My youngest and her kids visited him in July 2017! My family and friends have been connecting with him since April 2017! Life certainly does take interesting crazy turns!”

Finally, tonight I asked “what happened on May 23rd?” and Tonia answered: First time George definitively told me he was in love with me, sent me a first bouquet of red roses of four bouquets of flowers he has sent me since then, and it was my 67th birthday and he was in cahoots with my youngest daughter on Messenger … we posted awhile back we were in a complex 2885 mile apart relationship … later this week, we will post we are going steady … the other day he gave me his BHS letterman’s jacket and senior ring! He wants me to pick out a St. Christopher medal necklace this week! all symbols back in JHS and HS of going steady! We are having fun with this!

[Editor’s Note: George still had his BHS letterman’s jacket?! He still had his senior ring?!]

Tonight we saw this:

No more doubt about it! How exciting for them both!

What a beautiful story! George and Tonia, we wish you much happiness together!