Valley Streamers planned special Valentine's Day

For Ned Johnson, the hard times with his fiancée, Christine Miserandino, have brought the two of them closer together. They met in March 2014, when mutual friends got together at the Silver Star Diner. Miserandino was in a wheelchair at the time, recovering from a stroke brought on by lupus, and Johnson had to carry her up and down the stairs. But that didn’t stop him from falling in love with her.

“I guess I knew right away that I wanted to marry her,” Johnson said.

Miserandino, 39, knew that Johnson, 38, was the one because he always treated her as a girl rather than a girl with lupus, and when Johnson met her daughter, Olivia, the two instantly clicked. “He’s her forever Neddy bear,” Miserandino said, “and now we go out and collect teddy bears.”

Their life together hasn’t been all about teddy bears, however. Last January, an expectant Miserandino, 39, suffered a stillbirth, and has had several surgeries since. “Because of losing Charlotte and because of lupus, we had a bad year,” she said.

“I needed total dental surgery,” she added, explaining that some of her teeth have fallen out, and she does not have bottom teeth. To make matters worse, Miserandino is on Medicaid, which does not cover dental surgery.

Their year may have been difficult, but it ended on a high note. In December, Johnson took Christine and 9-year-old Olivia to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Between shows, he brought them on stage and proposed. He gave Olivia an infinity necklace, and then gave her mother a diamond ring. “They were both really surprised, so it was good,” he said.

The two said they planned to stay in and watch a movie together to mark their first Valentine’s Day since being engaged.

Other Valley Streamers said they opted to commemorate the many years they have been together. Carolyn and Carl Percival, both 77, have been married for 55 years, and spent all of those years in Valley Stream.

Carolyn grew up in Valley Stream, where a friend picked her up for a blind double date in July 1959. She didn’t know it at the time, but she had met her future husband. They went to the stock car races in Freeport, and soon fell in love. “We both got lucky, I think,” said Carolyn. “We met the right people, and we’re good for each other.”

Now, 58 years later, the Percivals have three children, all of whom have also married.

“I think I’ll take him out to dinner and a movie,” Carolyn said of their plans for Tuesday night. “I might try Mia’s in the village.”

Other Valley Stream couples will reflect on what they’ve learned from their partners. Anthony and Michelle Menke have been married for 26 years, and their daughter, Samantha, could not imagine them being apart.

“They are inseparable, they never argue, and it’s almost as if they share one mind,” she said.

Anthony, 52, and Michelle, 50, met in the early 1980s when everyone on the same block in South Ozone Park, Queens, sat together on the stoop to listen to music, according to Samantha. Over the years, the two of them became closer and helped others in need.

After Hurricane Sandy destroyed houses in Far Rockaway, the Menke family took in 14 people, even though they only have a four-bedroom home. “Growing up, my parents always said that no matter what, you should be there for others, but if there’s one thing I learned in life, it’s one thing to tell someone to do something and another to show them how it’s done,” said Samantha, who sees her parents as a perfect couple.

“My parents are the kind of couple people only dream about,” she said. “It’s like being in a romantic comedy when I’m in their presence.”